“For three years Jesus worked with the Pharisees because they had every piece that God’s people needed, except for the one that really mattered to Him as much as anything else. Jesus told everyone that if they lacked that one piece that mattered so much, its absence would ruin everything else.
In Paul’s words, ‘… if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love (compassion), I am nothing.’
(1 Corinthians 13:1 NIV)
This is the critique. Jesus says you may have the Text, you may have devotion, you may have obedience, you may have
a passion for God. But if you are prideful, arrogant, and self-righteous, you don’t have compassion. It’s the one piece needed to do the work that Jesus calls us to do.
The struggles within the Church today are the tendency to be cultural Herodians (worldliness)
and religious Pharisees (legalism). Jesus calls us to follow Him with zeal, but also to follow Him in the compassion He had for the outcast, the broken-hearted, and the sinner. I pray that during this season of Lent Jesus will grow each of us in the fullness of conforming us to His good and perfect character. A centerpiece of that character is being compassionate.“
gracefellowship01@gmail.com, ElderTalk: The Pharisees, MATT GODSIL, April Trailnotes.
