Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
Matthew 23:25-26
Legalistic self-righteousness with its emphasis on rule-keeping and appearances cannot ultimately succeed in making a person better. It can only add to the dirt on the inside even as it obsesses over outer appearances. Yet it is so deceptive. Legalism can FEEL right. Self-righteous legalism can be so impressive to others. It can get attention and deceive us. It can just look SO RIGHT. But that attention only feeds the worst elements of it, making the problems within the person grow even worse.
The people who fought Jesus the hardest, who led the conspiracy to murder Him were the most sincerely religious people of His culture. But their religious motives were wrong. They were outwardly zealous in religion while inwardly their selfishness and power-lusting hearts drove them to reject God. Legalism rejects God in favor of self. And that is why Jesus has harsh words for it, condemning those who practice it to hell (Matthew 23:33).
Lord Jesus,
Save my soul from my own rule-keeping tendencies! Christianity is about life lived by Your inner transformation. From a new heart made good only by You, Jesus, can flow kindness, gentleness, peace, and all the fruit of Your Spirit’s good work in me. I can’t reform myself. I need regeneration... rebirth... renewal... not just a better version of the same old broken me! My sole hope is the gospel at work transforming me through the Spirit’s work. Wash this cup, inside and out, so that I might be fit for Your use!
Amen
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