It is surprising that things which are clearly stated in the Bible are now up for debate among Christians. In addition, we live in an age that social media has given opportunity for millions of people to have a platform to share their ideas and opinions regardless of their validity and helpfulness to the masses.
We live in a time that it is very difficult to know who is really following Christ or who just has a form of godliness but denying His power to change lives. So how do we respond to people?
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:15
The above scripture tells us that the Pharisees derided Jesus.
Deride (Webster’s Dictionary): to talk or write about (someone or something) in a very critical or insulting way: to say that (someone or something) is ridiculous or has no value
Jesus was derided by the Pharisees; they ignored and criticized His teachings. They also justified themselves among men.
When I look at the landscape of Christianity right now, it seems to me that we can all be guilty of deriding other believers and justifying our own positions. This is a dangerous path that can lead to the disintegration of the unity in the body of Christ and securing a self-righteous position.
I am not for compromise whatsoever. Without the doubt anything that the Bible states clearly, we have not been given permission to dilute or sugarcoat it. However, in some instances it is the issue of how we apply the Word of God rather than the actual scriptures.
In applying the Word of God, we all should be students in the laboratory of life. If we remain teachable and humble, we can learn from each other and from those that we are trying to reach.
As a teacher, I need to know how my students absorb the material and should make an attempt to reach students with different learning modality. One size doesn’t fit all! We all can learn what makes people more receptive to the truth.
Jesus told the Pharisees that they were too busy justifying themselves. We as Christians cannot operate like carnal lawyers whose main goal is to be right. We can win the battle but lose the war. In the process we may gain a momentary satisfaction but lose a relationship with a person because we were too busy justifying our position.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
