August 11 In the 29th Chapter of Isaiah, the Lord says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Does this passage remind us that there are a lot of rules for worship made up or taught by man, and they are mere rituals that we go through that really have no meaning? Is it possible that we begin to believe that we can make ourselves worthy of God by a ritual performance? Jesus in the 15th Chapter of Matthew reprimands the rituals of the Pharisees by quoting the above words of Isaiah and added, “In vain they do worship me, teaching, for doctrines the commandments of men.” Jesus was condemning how the religion of the Pharisees had deteriorated into nothing but a set of rules taught by men. Saul was a zealous Pharisee, devout and determined to do the will of God. He knew the Old Testament and thought it was the will of God to exterminate the followers of Jesus, the Christ. He thought as many do in today‘s world, that the Almighty God would reward him for keeping all the rules, and he rejected Christ as Lord and Savior, that is, until he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. Too bad that we couldn’t herd everyone who thinks they can make themselves worthy of God onto the road to Damascus to meet the risen Christ. Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are all those who have not seen me, but still believe.” Prayer: Lord, don’t’ let me ever fall into the trap of believing I can earn Your love and forgiveness. Forgive me on the basis of Your grace and my faith in Your crucifixion and resurrection for me.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 11:14:33 +0000
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