“The Blood Of The Prophets”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected
the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you
ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You
strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate,
but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First
clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like white-washed tombs,
which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of
the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look
righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the
graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our
ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the
prophets.’ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of
those who murdered the prophets.”
Matthew 23:23-31
How
often do you really clean your home? How about the blinds and the dust on the
floors? We can be lulled into thinking our weekly cleaning is actually working.
On sunny days it can be obvious that our homes are not as clean as we thought
they were. In Jesus’ day, the scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites who
concentrated on the appearance of holiness while neglecting their
heart-holiness.
Keeping
up appearances in housework is not wrong, but pretending that our hearts are
clean is wrong. Only those who are clean on the inside will welcome Jesus with
confidence when He returns. Is your heart ready? Or is heart-cleaning needed?
Now is the time to take care of it!
At the heart of holiness
is
holiness of the heart.
Our Daily Bread –