JAKE STIMPSON | ETERNAL LIFE | PHARISEES | MOSES | KNOWING GOD | PRAYER | BIBLE STUDY | JOHN 15 | ABIDE
Who was Jesus toughest on while on the earth? Who did he really wail on? The Pharisees! One of the dangers of the Pharisees is that they were so close to being right, and yet so completely wrong. They were admirable in their devotion to the Law, their seriousness toward God, their dedication to righteousness… but they didn’t actually have a relationship with God and that’s why they were so wrong in everything. If we’re not careful, we can be the same, parading around with an air of religiosity but with no real relationship with the living God.
Psalm 119:2 – “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart.” Time and again, the Bible exhorts us to be whole-hearted toward God, to give Him all our devotion and attention, free of distractions. Anything less is merely half-hearted lip service. Like a man proposing to his girlfriend and offering her his loyalty 364 days of the year, being almost devoted to God just doesn’t cut it. He wants all your heart.
In the Gospels, we find the story of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus comes to their home, and Mary is so in awe that she breaks cultural norms to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear Him teach. Martha, busy getting things ready for Jesus, is distracted and annoyed at her sister. It’s easy to sympathize with Martha, who was just trying to get things done, but in her busyness, she missed out on the greatest gift of all, the fact that Jesus Himself was in her home. In the midst of endless opportunities to be distracted, we’ve got to guard our hearts or we too will miss the one thing that really matters, knowing Jesus.