Do Not Follow Their Example

 “Practice and obey whatever they say to you but do not follow their example." Matthew 23:3

This is what Jesus said to the disciples about the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees. He most probably would say the same about me! I should be constantly careful about the things I write because it says in James 3:1, "We who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness."

Who were the Pharisees? "The Pharisees," as I read from pencilled notes on my Bible (probably from The Word Among Us) "got their name from the Hebrew word ‘Perusim’, meaning the separated ones- and they really did try to live up to their title. They were primarily a lay renewal movement that arose from a group of pious Jews who resisted pagan influence during the Greek occupation of Palestine in 4th C BC."

They wore phylacteries (prayer boxes) on their forehead or left wrist, which contained parchment with texts from the Torah, "in such a way that it hung from in front of the eyes! Thus the injunction to keep the law as a sign on the hand and as a memorial between the eyes was literally observed." (Jerome Commentary)

How about me? A lot of people have a junk drawer to keep their mess out of view. I have a junk ROOM! My spiritual mess is not on display either! So do not follow my example!

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!