GOD Morning! March 14 / Boot Camp Day 9 / Fashion Show Christianity

GOD Morning!  March 14

Boot Camp Day 9
Fashion Show Christianity

Okay so this time around, I realize that my decision to rise at 4AM must begin the night before. I had fallen into the bad habit of staying up as late as possible in order to squeeze every second out of my evening. As a result, I was rising later and later in the morning. So now I understand that I must go to bed when I feel tired. Last night I went to bed at 8:30. When my alarm went off this morning, I felt rested!

Let’s read today’s passage in the Message version.

Matthew 23:1-22

Religious Fashion Shows

23 ^1-3 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.

^4-7 “Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’

I was raised in a pastor's home. I distinctly remember being a very young girl and observing these types of folks sitting down to dinner in our home. When you’ve been around religion all of your life, you learn a lot about phariseeism (the behavior of a sanctimonious and self-righteous person). Okay I will admit it, I have been this person as well. I have learned the hard way that whenever I start to enjoy “position” or being esteemed, I am headed for a terrible fall.

^8-10 “Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.

^11-12 “Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself your life will count for plenty.

Frauds!

¹³ “I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God’s kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won’t let anyone else in either.

¹⁵ “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.

^16-22 “You’re hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, ‘If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that’s nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that’s serious.’ What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: ‘If you shake hands on a promise, that’s nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that’s serious’? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.

“God, help me! I don’t want to be this person. I don't want to "wear" my Christianity as if I'm putting on a fashion show. If there’s a teeny seed of spiritual pride in my heart, please rip it out. I am a sinner, saved by grace! I have been “religious” all of my life. I have known no other lifestyle. I have seen most every type of Christian there is. I want to be authentic. I want to be REAL. I want to be REAL with You and REAL with everyone else. How I love You. Please continue to break me, mold me and make me. In Jesus’ precious name I pray, AMEN!”