Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness

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In preparation for the church’s Christmas Drama (I am playing Pilate), I started to read the life of Jesus leading up to the Crucifixion.  Particularly from the Gospel of Matthew.

In Matthew, Chapter 23, Jesus gave seven woes against the Pharisees and calling them hypocrites.
There was one woe that I was drawn to…

 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

As we walk with the Lord, there are times when we stop and evaluate how we are doing spiritually. The common considerations are…
  • do I tithe
  • do I go to church
  • do I pray and read the Bible daily
  • do I go to fellowship
As someone who has a desire to follow the Lord, we should focus on things which are major in His eyes.  I like this passage because we often think of ourselves as a Christians list above.  
What if I start evaluating my spiritual walk with the more important matters of the law:
  • am I fighting for justice
  • am I merciful  (or when was the last time I show mercy)
  • am I being faithful to the Lord

3 Responses

  1. Really cool Cliff.

    Congrats on the marriage too!

    I'll be visiting Sg again this year end of this month and into next month. Email me if you'd like to catch up again 🙂

    Jason.

    Reply

  2. Hi Cliff,

    I am Joseph, an undergraduate from Singapore. Happened to chance upon your blog from your wedding video. I am very amazed by how God is working in your life. 🙂 You are a source of inspiration to me to want to serve in the missions field. I would like to know how had you decided on putting down everything for the Lord, and how did you overcome the obstacles that face you. 🙂 I have aspirations of working for the Lord in the mission field too after my graduation and would like learn more about it from you. Hope to hear from you 🙂

    Joseph

    Reply

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