Focus
Stop and thank God for being present with you today. Ask for God’s guidance as you hear God’s voice through scripture and the writer.
Read
John 13:1-17 Romans 2:12-16 (NRSV)
All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.
Reflect
“For, it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” I want us to take the liberty of expanding Paul’s thought a little further. I bet Paul would (and has) spoken about the hypocrisy of those proclaimers of the law who do not practice the law.
Jesus has said, “You will know them by their fruit.” I am using this as my rule and guide in our world today. I have been disappointed and amazed in the last couple of weeks by people in what I have read and seen on social media. Then I decided that I am not going to be concerned with what people say. I am becoming laser-focused on what people do.
There are people I know who do not accept the Gospel in the way I pray they should, but their life is full of the good works of God. Sadly, there are people who know how to speak “Gospel-eze,” but are sadly lacking in works of love, grace, and mercy. This gives me some anxiety, but then I remember what Paul writes, “God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.”
My calling is to live a Christian witness. I will judge myself on my fruit. I will let God take care of the rest.
Pray
God, please give us discernment. Take away our selfish pride. Help us to not only talk, but to perform acts of goodness and grace in your name. Amen
Go with God!
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