Allow God

Scripture/Bible: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; 26 truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny. Matt 5:20-26

Reflection:  What is the standard for righteousness or the criteria to evaluate a person, whether if someone is righteous? Can there be any measure to measure righteousness? 

We need to come to grasp with the concept of righteousness in order to understand what Jesus has to say and to be surely on the pathway to enter the kingdom of heaven.

What was the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees that invites the displeasure of Jesus?  Were they really righteous?  Yes, they were righteous according to the standards of the law of God. They diligently followed the law BUT the one thing that they lacked was that they failed to recognize the giver of the law and to love him and seek his wisdom in leading their lives. 

They were zealous for God’s law but not for God, just as you can people who are zealous for the Word of God and yet miss the mark.  They failed to see the human limitation to lead a life of perfection apart from God.

Hence they never stood justified (the Greek word Dikhaisune means both righteous and justified) before God.  They lived their lives to please themselves and men before whom they flaunted their self achieved righteousness.     

Prayer:  “Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of my enemies; make thy way straight before me. Ps 5:8

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