Blinded by the rules

Blinded by the rules

John 5: ¹⁶ For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

¹⁸ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 

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After years of doing whatever I wanted to do, I decided to go back to church. I had enough of “sinning” and I wanted to follow GOD for a change. As I got deeper into reading and attending church, my speech started to change. “Look at THOSE people doing THAT sin.” I mean how dare they sin!

• There were times when I measured people to ‘my’ standard.
• There were times when I looked at what people were doing wrong so ‘I’ could correct them.
• There were times when I felt ‘I’ had arrived because of where ‘I’ had come from.

The church leaders sought to kill JESUS because HE performed a miracle on the Sabbath. JESUS replied with an answer stating HE and HIS FATHER have been working together. This statement grew the rage of the church leaders so they figured they had justification for their legal actions.

• GOD wants me to follow HIS word, knowing I am still a sinner.
• GOD wants me to read HIS word, knowing people need grace.
• GOD wants me to understand HIS heart through observing HIS actions while HE walked the earth.

Over the years I have tried to correct people into salvation from what I can see. If I see the right evidence, then I feel my work is done. BUT GOD says something different. HE wants me to plant HIS seeds and take my eyes off of the person as I give them to HIM.

Strong faith does not require seeing what GOD is doing in “that” person’s life. GOD wants me to recognize what HE is doing in my life so I can drop my complaints, control and conspiring attitude. I recognize I do not follow GOD’s rules, that’s why I need HIM and thank HIM for HIS grace.

• Do you think you are good at following rules?
• Are you busy pointing at those who do not follow the rules well?
• Will you ask GOD to open your blind, rule based eyes and allow HIM to add a measure of grace to your heart today?