Today’s Reading: John 5; John 6
Scripture: John 5:5, 8-10
5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years...
8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
Observation: A paralyzed man has just been healed and is walking for the first time in thirty-eight years! Imagine the excitement those around him must have felt. Wouldn't you think that everyone would hug him and celebrate with him? But that is not what happens. The first thing that "The Religious" people do is to rebuke him! This is so typical of "The Religious" -- they never have found a celebration they couldn't spoil. And this is no exception. Instead of rejoicing over a great miracle (obviously God was involved here), they pick on a very minor infraction (which is not truly an infraction at all) of their interpretation of the sabbath rules.
Application: "The Religious" are people with a kind of self-assigned legalism that masquerades as spirituality but is not anything of the kind. These people do not know God or His ways. All they know is a list of rules that they delight in imposing on others to validate their own worth. What is the point of all this?
The point: Whenever you find yourself getting picky about some religious or legalistic trivialities, watch out. You might be getting stuck in the kind of religious swamp that sucks the true joy and love of God right out of a person. If you have no joy in Jesus, ask God to show you why. The Bible tells us "the joy of the Lord is our strength."
Prayer: Lord, I thank You that Jesus was not religious. He was filled with joy and love and purpose which drove the religious people crazy. Help Your people to be infected with the same kind of positive stuff. Keep us out of religiosity.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 comment:
One of the things that makes Christianity so unattractive is the legalism that has been promoted as true faith. It's not too much unlike the Muslim propensity toward imposing Islamic values on everyone else.
Post a Comment