The BOX People
S. O. A. P.
Here’s Your 90 second AM Devotional!
S-cripture:
Mark 2:16
When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
O-bservation:
The people who were asking this question of Jesus’ disciples were Jewish Pharisees who prided themselves in keeping the Old Testament law. In the Jewish tradition at that time, associating with Tax Collectors and Sinners would fall into our present-day legal category of “High Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
A-pplication:
When a person really understands what Jesus came to do, hindsight immediately labels these Pharisees of Jesus’ day as, “The BOX People.” By that, I mean the Pharisees had life figured out as far as their religion was concerned. However, their religion left no room for a relationship with God. When there’s no relationship with one’s Maker, it turns people into robots who have life so figured out that they live in a religious box. They inevitably live to, “Hear no evil, speak no evil, and see no evil.” Yet, Jesus said, “I didn’t come to call the righteous, but I came to call the sinners” (v 17). Here’s the question, have we allowed our faith to turn us into The BOX People to the point that we have everything in life figured out? I hope not. It’s my goal to live with people who may not live, act, or operate as I do, but who need a spiritual doctor. Let’s you and I can be that doctor to see them healed in Jesus’ name.
P-rayer:
Dear Jesus,
Help me stay out of religious boxes and labels. Help me approach people the way You did. Amen
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