In an emergency room when a person with a scratch is asked to wait while the doctors and nurses see to others with more serous injuries or critical health problems, this is the right thing to do. We would not want to see seriously hurt or badly sick folks have to wait while they treat minor things, yet we do this religiously every day.
Jesus fought against this attitude in his personal ministry and on one occasion in Matthew 23:23 he told the Pharisees that they were careful to tithe even the smallest things to gain Gods favor yet they fail to do the more important things such as faithfulness, justice and mercy which God loves. They were majoring on minors and missing the majors altogether.
The Pharisees seemed to consider themselves as both the authoritative decision makers and the enforcers of their traditions. But Jesus challenged them in Mark 7:8 when he said that they were laying aside Gods commandments to keep the traditions of men. They were substituting the less important to replace the more important things.
We all have witnessed well meaning church members with attitudes of anger and even hatred for those that disagreed with their opinions on what they were convinced the Bible taught. Yet their attitudes were much more condemning from Gods point of view and they were neglecting Gods number one law that we love one another. Are we putting our priorities in the wrong place?
Let us be very careful that we do not have an attitude like the Pharisees which caused Jesus to quoted Isaiah saying, “They honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”. If we have an attitude like the Pharisees of legalism, anger, bitterness, or even hatred, then our worship and payers may not get any higher than the ceiling and for our eternal destiny we must not risk that!
Just something to think about!
Harvey Schultz
