Bible Verse of the Day Tuesday January 18th, 2022

Matthew 23:3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

A Father tells his children that smoking cigarettes are harmful to their health. Yet, he smokes two packs a day. A mother admonishes her young daughter on the dangers of drinking alcoholic beverages as she leaves for her first date and then goes to the fridge and opens a beer for herself. We see Parents encouraging their children to go to church on Sunday while they stay home and watch ball games on television. These are but a few examples of not practicing what you preach, but it happens every day worldwide.

The Pharisees, who were supposed to “sit in the seat of Moses,” had a somewhat related problem. They were the ones responsible for expounding the Mosaic Law so that the Children of Israel would understand the importance of walking in the ways of God and have a special close relationship with God (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).

Jesus had a very trenchant evaluation of both of these groups; He pointed out the hypocrisy of these supposable leaders. The people were spiritually bankrupt, and the Savior placed the responsibility for this directly upon these two groups of people. Their interpretation of the law and how they lived became more important than God’s Law. The parts of the law they did follow were for their glory and not for the glory of God. Jesus exposed them in a great and mighty way recorded in the 23rd chapter of Matthew. This account is quite a long verse of scripture, but it would do us well to read it even if we have read it before (Matthew 23:1-4; Matthew 23:13-33).

We, as Christians, are to be a reflector of the Light of Jesus that shines out to the world so that those that do not know Jesus will be able to see Him. The first sermon that many people will ever hear is the one that comes from our example, the way we live your life. So we must question ourselves today, “what is the gospel according to us? ”If we choose to use foul language, lose our tempers, have a drink with the crowd, tell off-colored jokes, attend church only when convenient to us, I could go on and on with this list, but I think you get the idea. So how are we honoring Christ Jesus?

We have all heard people say they do not go to church because there are so many hypocrites there, and they might be correct to a point. Let us work hard to dispel this notion that the world has of Christians; let us pattern how it is to follow Christ Jesus by our words and actions.

The most powerful sermon that the world may ever hear is our example.

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