Feb 23: Matthew 5:17-20
Key Verse: Matthew 5:20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Devotion:
When Jesus was amongst His disciples and the people He would make sure they knew He had not come to overturn everything the prophets had brought to the people; in other words He had not come to overturn the word of God but to support it and fulfil it!
Sometimes it is difficult to spot a fraudster from a crowd because the fraudsters try to blend in and work quietly from the inside. This is what we are up against as Christians, we are up against an adversary who will go out of his way to try and trip us up by offering us more than we have.
Jesus went through this when He was facing temptations from the devil but He was able to rely on God and not be tempted even though He was promised all manner of things. When we look back on instances where we have faced fraudulent people we can wonder why we did not spot them to start with – but that is why they do this, because they can hide the truth until it is too late!
Jesus also warned the people they would have to be better behaved than all of the rules from the past before they could come close to joining God in Heaven: something we will find impossible to do because we are tempted by things all the time. Jesus was stepping forward here to make a new way open to us because He knew we would not be able to avoid temptation all of our lives!
Points to Ponder:
Would you avoid a tempting dinner if offered it?
Do you know the evil one will tempt you with your inner desires?