Reading your Bible for Today January 5

January 5: Matthew 23:13-33

KJV Key Verse: Matthew 23:25
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Devotion:
I could just imagine being in the crowd watching Jesus as He berated the scribes and Pharisees, cringing as He delivered each of the eight woes. Could you imagine being shown up in front of your home crowd in a manner like this, knowing you are in the wrong and knowing that every word which comes out of your accuser’s mouth was the truth? I think I would want to curl up and die quietly in a dark corner!

Jesus spoke what was on His heart, knowing exactly what people needed to hear in order to get them to listen to the truth. The more rotten anything is on the inside, the more you have to scrub to get it clean. The more ground in the dirt, the more detergents you have to use to get rid of that dirt... but just like pans which have dirt baked into them, some of those stains seem like they just do not want to be shifted.

Christ gives us all the same choices in our lives, and they are our choices to make. Many would say society excludes some people from being able to make the right choice – but as long as they hear the right method or truth at least once, they have the same choices to make. Even people in the most depraved areas have heard good things, but they make choices based on their most frequent experiences. Maybe they do need to hear more good things before they can start to see what is wrong in their lives, maybe they need to hear strong words like Jesus spoke to the scribes and Pharisees.

But it is not just people in depraved areas we are talking about. Most of these people Jesus was addressing were in high positions and socially acceptable to all. Yet they chose their own emotions over what God wanted in their lives. They chose to follow what they imagined was good for them rather than believing the truth as it was being told. We today continue to choose for ourselves, often choosing the path of least resistance rather than what we know to be right...

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever thought about how many choices you make each day?

How many do you involve Christ in?