Daily Thots: Hidden Camel, Crouching Gnat

This is a gnat . Gnats are small. They are pesky.
This is a camel . Camels are big. They are helpful.
This is a Pharisee . Pharisees are neither small nor big, but like the gnats they spit out, they are pesky, and they help themselves to a whole camel for lunch.

In Matthew 23:24, Jesus, without mincing His words, said to the Pharisees "You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." What was Jesus' point? Wrong priorities & hypocrisy. The whole of Matthew 23, in fact, was an outright lecture for the self-exalted spiritual leaders of those days. Jesus listed seven aspects of how the Pharisees have reversed the order of importance, and made it burdensome for people to attain any hope of salvation, if at all.

Today, that message is still relevant to us. While Pharisees have long been consigned to the ranks of dodos and elephant birds, believers are still getting their priorities all jumbled up while hypocrisy is very much alive, even in the context of the church.

We struggle with the Mary-Martha syndrome, preferring deeds over fellowship with the Lord. We talk about the love of Jesus, and withhold it when we come across one who really needs to see and experience the love of God. We ask the same question in Matthew 25:44 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

I am afraid we have; or at least I know I have. I haven't been generous in showing God's love to my loved ones, often assuming that I have done a great job, which I know isn't so. I haven't been fast in praying for & helping those who are hurting. I haven't been spending as much time as I should with my parents & in-laws in their golden years. I could have been more patient & gentle with my loved ones, and not just with friends and colleagues, whom I am pre-programmed to impress.

In Matthew 16: 6, Jesus warned his disciples to "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." It's a warning for us as well. Let's us not just talk, but walk the talk. Let us not Martha Jesus out of our life. Let us be faithful in keeping and living the values God wants us to embrace, and let us be consistent in sharing the love of Jesus, all the more so with those whom we have no need to impress, those who really need our love, and those whom others have no time for.

May God bless you,
Thomas

Picture Credits
1. Gnat - http://www.universalpest.com/images/ful_fungus_gnat.jpg
2. Camel - http://www.sixty8.net/albums/Iraq/CAMEL.sized.jpg
3. Pharisee - http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/pharisee.jpg

Notice : The pictures used in this post are for illustration only. Credits are given for pictures that do not belong to Cyberfellowship. Any resemblance to actual persons or creatures, living or dead, is purely coincidental. If you have any strong objections to the use of these pictures, kindly drop us a comment, and we will remove them as appropriate.
Category: cf_tht