Bible
Study: Isaiah 1, 10 and 16 to 20. Matthew 23, 1 to 12).
In our
first reading this morning, the prophet Isaiah summarizes what exactly should
be our goal for Lent:
-
Repentance from sin, especially the
sins of the flesh which characterized Sodom and Gomorrah.
-
Love for goodness and hatred of evil.
-
The practice of mercy.
-
Providing justice to the poor, especially
to victims of oppression such as orphans and widows.
Isaiah
assures us that when we do these things, God would thoroughly wipe away our past
record of sins, no matter the extent of sins we may have committed, we would
become like new born babies again.
It is very
easy to preach to others with words but not so easy to practice what we preach.
Jesus, in our Gospel passage is so disappointed with the religious leaders of
his time because they were simply hypocrites. Jesus said: “practice whatever
they tell you, but not what they do.”
There is
no point being a signboard to heaven if all you do is to point people there but
never move into heaven yourself. Yes, people may respect you and you may enjoy
some earthly glory but all that would not matter the moment you stop breathing.
True glory lies in the actual practice of God’s word; that is how we grow into
perfection.
Above all,
we must never forget that without God, we are nothing! So we must never see ourselves
as greater than anyone else or try to make ourselves gods before others. Whether
or not people greet us according to our titles does not matter. What matters is
that we are living as children of the light before God who sees everything and
before whom, nothing can ever be hidden.
Let us
Pray:
Lord
Jesus, free me from the tendency to preach with my lips alone rather than by
the very content of my life. Amen.
God bless you. Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is
well with you.
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