MATTHEW 23:23

²³ “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.

TO PONDER

It’s tempting to write about who the real ‘dill’ is here, because in reality, Jesus could be referring to all of us. It’s a justified outburst from Jesus, telling off the leaders, because they got their priorities wrong. And that’s why the message is also for us. 

We often get our priorities wrong. We often worry too much about how something looks, rather than how someone feels. We often care more about the image of ourselves, than caring about someone in need. 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; They’ll know we are Christians by our love, not our image. Jesus did not hang around the beautiful people.  

Now, image is ok. Image is important sometimes, but not if it comes at the expense of love and care. 

We can sometimes be so focussed on many other things in our busy lives, that we forget about the people God places in front of us daily. 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, open our eyes to the needs in our local community, whether it be family, friends, or even enemies! Blind our eyes to the unhelpful and non-urgent things in this world. Amen  

Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping