Welcome to the PoG Blog! The scripture for today is:
Matthew 23 13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. 15“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Whoa! Jesus is really ticked! These verses sit inside a chapter of Matthew that is largely committed to this kind of discourse. Jesus is coming down hard on the religious leaders for adding all kinds of rules and requirements to “connecting with God” that simply do not exist. Jesus is saying that their teachings and actions actually shut the door of heaven on people and keep them out. I think this has something to do with the teaching last Sunday on the keys to the kingdom of God as if Jesus is saying, “Don’t lock the doors of heaven by your wrong teaching and leading of the people!”
This catches my attention in a very practical way today. Jesus empowers people like me with His Good News to make life with Him “more” available to others – not less available. I am supposed to “get the word out” that God is radically available and accessible to His broken world through Jesus. When people look at my life today I want them to get a glimpse of what connecting with an available, accessible God looks like! Jesus did not make people jump through hoops to get to God but rather said, “Come to Me!”
I hope I keep this challenge in mind today. How can I more clearly communicate through my words and actions that my God is real, accessible and available to me and to the world. No hoop jumping just accessing Jesus by faith. It’s not about what I have to do to connect to God it’s about what He has already done to make that connection possible. I truly want people to “get” that Good News from me today!
It’s going to be a good day – not only do I get to live in my available and accessible God’s presence today; I get to help someone else live in it as well!
Delton
What are your thoughts and feelings? Would love to hear them!