Inside Out

     In my 41 years as a  Christian, I have studied Matthew many times, four of those times in BSF. Although the Bible is a living book, eternally applicable, and I am in a different stage of my life every time Matthew cycles through BSF, I was afraid that familiarity might breed contempt, even for  much loved Matthew. So I prayed for fresh insight into this very familiar book. The theme that has come to me repeatedly through these first 19 chapters of Matthew is Jesus training the disciples to see the inside instead of the outside, especially of the religious leaders. If the disciples followed the leadership of the outwardly righteous scribes and Pharisees after Christ's ascension, Christianity would have died in its infancy. Despite their overt persecution of Jesus, the disciples still looked up to the Pharisees and were worried about offending them.
     On the other hand, the disciples looked down on children and many others in the crowd who followed and admired Jesus. Christ was trying to teach his disciples that righteousness comes from the inside out. The fancy robes, time spent in the temple, scrupulous observance of laws, and even knowledge of the scriptures did not penetrate their hard hearts. That is because reading the Bible doesn't change us. Studying the Bible doesn't change us. We are changed only by applying what the Bible says. That is why I have stayed in BSF 23 years. The questions, discussion and accountability force me, against my lazy nature, to apply what I am learning.
     It is man's nature try to become righteous from the outside in, by conformity to religious practices. But the church is not a magic box where spirituality grows. We all know people who have attended church, prayed, and read the Bible faithfully for decades yet remain spiritually stagnant in the same sins of gossip, bitterness, laziness, etc. that they had when they first walked in the church door.  All being in church does for many people, is mold them into an acceptable Christian shape, and all they do for the church is warm a pew. I want more than that for my loved ones. I do not want them to read the Bible or go to church out of mindless habit, or even to please me, those are lesser things. I want them to do those things because they love God--from the inside out.