Luke 11:42 (NIV84) — 42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
Doing the right thing but your heart is in the wrong place. Jesus says something pretty powerful here. To count even the garden herbs in your tithe was to follow the rules over the "T". The Pharisees represent people who "do the right thing". Jesus isn't so impressed with doing the right thing. That doesn't mean He doesn't want you to do the right thing if your attitude isn't straight, He does. It keeps coming back to the things of the heart. They are so important. More important than doing the right things.
I feel like I have been hitting this "gong" a lot. I don't know if it is because I have read a few John Eldredge books or I am seeing it more, but I see the heart, the core of us when I read. Here again is the heart from which this unconditional type of love, God's love, is the subject of what Jesus is talking about. Doing the right things is good, but don't neglect what is most important, justice and love.
I encourage you to read with a heart lens. Find God's heart in the Word. Hear Him talking to your heart. It is so easy to read many passages and interpret them as "do this" and "don't do that". Yet when we read the whole Word, we learn that everything flows from the heart, our speech, our conduct, our believes, the real us. That is the transformation process I am in. How about you? God is transforming His people - from their heart.
Doing the right thing but your heart is in the wrong place. Jesus says something pretty powerful here. To count even the garden herbs in your tithe was to follow the rules over the "T". The Pharisees represent people who "do the right thing". Jesus isn't so impressed with doing the right thing. That doesn't mean He doesn't want you to do the right thing if your attitude isn't straight, He does. It keeps coming back to the things of the heart. They are so important. More important than doing the right things.
I feel like I have been hitting this "gong" a lot. I don't know if it is because I have read a few John Eldredge books or I am seeing it more, but I see the heart, the core of us when I read. Here again is the heart from which this unconditional type of love, God's love, is the subject of what Jesus is talking about. Doing the right things is good, but don't neglect what is most important, justice and love.
I encourage you to read with a heart lens. Find God's heart in the Word. Hear Him talking to your heart. It is so easy to read many passages and interpret them as "do this" and "don't do that". Yet when we read the whole Word, we learn that everything flows from the heart, our speech, our conduct, our believes, the real us. That is the transformation process I am in. How about you? God is transforming His people - from their heart.
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