Straining gnats and swallowing camels
I’ve thought about this verse a fair bit lately. It comes up most often when you’re confronted with a person suffering from religiosity.
Matthew 23:23-24 – “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.”
This is Jesus talking to the Pharisees (religious nutters of the day). They would give to God one tenth of even their spices but they failed to love and value the bigger things like justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Careful, religious legalism seems good to your soul but that’s where it stops. There’s no actual fruit and everyone around you feels small and is forever being corrected by your spiritual elitism.
Religiosity is focused on the small matters to make sure everything’s perfect. Did you say that right? Did you cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s. Now this is fine when you’re an aircraft mechanic but we’re talking a relationship with God that’s been smothered by a monster sized dose of grace!
Lighten up peeps! Jesus is more concerned with a person than a principle. He didn’t die for rules to be enforced but for a relationship to be established that would bring right living THROUGH that relationship.
We get it back the front too often. Let’s embrace the bigger God picture with a real appreciation for His grace but keep allowing His empowering presence to help us live right too.
