Today is Tuesday, June 25, 2019, and here is your daily devote. The Pharisees were impeccable on the outside. Their spiritual and religious disciplines were second to none in their day and hours. Few of us are familiar with the kind of devotion the Pharisees gave to their traditions and rituals, and not many of us could measure up to it.
But that wasn't their problem. In fact, Jesus never critiqued them for their meticulous standards. Their problem was that they cared so much about the outside and so little about the inside. This is why Jesus criticized them for neglecting their inner life and for thinking that God was somehow swayed by external appearances.
Yet before we condemn the Pharisees, we should turn our gaze to our lives. We often do the same, focusing on our appearance or behavior instead of our hearts. We believe we are good with God because we attend worship, read our Bibles, give charitable, or abstain from certain behaviors. But that is not what God is after.
He is after our hearts. So be careful about picking up that stone. You might need to know this you are standing in a glass house. Think about this.
Who did Jesus regularly call out in the New Testament for appearing to be one thing on the outside but completely opposite within? When have you judged someone strictly by the world's standards? Why did you? Thank you for listening to the Daily Devote.
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