Holy Week // Matthew 23

Matthew 23

Did anyone else grow up believing that if you turned on the dome light in the car was illegal and that if you turned it on while someone was driving, they wouldn’t be able to see the road?

There are rules all around us. Rules that our family holds rules that society keeps, social rules, and the list could go on. Rules aren’t bad; all throughout God’s word, we hear different types of instruction, different guidelines, or rules to live by. As “spiritual” parents, we may set up rules or guidelines for those we lead in order to instruct them in a way that is holy or to guard against certain temptations. All of these are good when they are filtered through the Word of God. 

In today’s reading, Jesus is exposing the hypocrisy of religious leaders. They had taken their interpretations of the law and traditions and given them the same authority as the Word of God itself. The Pharisees knew the word of God, which looked good on the outside but failed to allow the Word to change the way they lived. They wanted to “appear” holy but didn’t want actually to be changed. 

As we navigate the world around us, it’s vitally important that we spend time in God’s word and allow it to change us from the inside out. God often asks us to do things that are counter-cultural, and if we aren’t filtering our desires, morals, and motivations through the words in scripture, we are in danger of living like the Pharisees. 

As you spend time reading and processing today's scripture, ask God to search your heart and help you be obedient to His word.