I have been working through a study book on the life of Paul. As I have been studying, I have found the way Paul – then Saul – was raised to be very interesting and also pretty convicting. Saul was raised in a culture that seemed to have a law and a way of doing tasks for everything. Some of the practices of his youth seem very strange to me. For instance, each morning he had to put on his tefillin (phylacteries) “at the first moment in the morning when enough daylight was present to recognize a neighbor at a distance of four cubits.” Say what? At our house we are lucky to get up in the morning without hitting the snooze button more than once!
As a young man, Saul set out to obey the scriptures and show his deep devotion to God on a daily basis. He lived a life of following the law and seeking that of what pleased his Creator. Saul was sent off to rabbinic school to learn and upon graduation set out for a place to serve. However, somewhere on his life’s journey, something changed within him and his obedience of serving God became more about obeying the law and religious practices of his day. His love was removed from his obedience, and his love of following the law and his religion quickly became his god.
I have been reflecting on my reading wondering what God wants me to learn from Saul’s young life. What areas of my life have I allowed to become more about law-abiding rather than serving my Father out of love? After all, without love as my motivation to serve, I am just trying to be good. Where have I crossed the line and made how I raise my children and practice my daily life more about religious actions rather than humbly serving our great King?
In Matthew 23 we see Jesus addressing the religious leaders and Pharisees, “13Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” Those are some powerful statements. There are others in Matthew 23, but verse 13 grabbed me and caused me to stop. Do my actions ever shut the door to the kingdom of heaven for those I encounter? What about us as a church? Do we have empty religious practices we are passing down to our own children? Are we rule followers for the sake of following rules or are we acting in love as we seek to be obedient?
I have often wondered what God thinks about how we do certain traditions both in our lives and in our church. What motivates me to teach my children about their Savior? Is it because of my love for God, or because it is the right thing to do according to my religion? When we commune as the body, do we come with a humble heart remembering all Jesus did for us, or do we concern ourselves more with how the bread and cup are prepared and to whom they are served?
Beth Moore says, “Godly people are valiant people. They are people with the courage to ask God to spotlight areas of weakness, sin, and failure. Then God can strengthen, heal, and complete what is lacking.” May those words be so of each of us as we seek to open the doors to the kingdom for all we encounter. I encourage you to ask your Father in Heaven to reveal your weakness, to highlight your failures, and perhaps examine the influences in this world that may be keeping you from showing others the door to the kingdom of heaven.
Becky Ossefoort