"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness"
Lord Jesus I pray that _________ will not be content with the appearance of righteousness, but will seek You for the true and lasting transformation of his/her whole life.
The Pharisees seemed like they had it all together. They followed all the rules and did what they were suppose to do. But Jesus saw their hearts and as He described them in today's scripture, they were filled with "dead man bones and all uncleanness". Their hearts did not please God. They did all what is right in their own eyes but when it came to what Jesus wanted they were far off. They were so focused on following the rules and what others thought that following the two commandments that were actually important to the Jews was not on their minds. Those two commandments are1) Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself
When I was reading this, I actually considered myself in this category. I am a person that struggles with focusing on the rules and not loving God with all my life. It is so easy to lean on my own strength. But I read some more and these Pharisees had no idea they were doing this. They were not wrong. That's not me. There are people who legitimately feel like they are a good person and see no need of God in their lives. My heart wants to be humble. Theirs were prideful and arrogant. Those people most definitely need to be prayed over the most because they are so deceived. Just like the prayer says we need to pray that they can see their need through Jesus for a transformation in their lives.
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