Woes in Matthew (part 5) Are You Carrying Around Fool's Gold?

Matthew 23:23-24
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. 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. You blind guides! You strain our gnats but swallow a camel.

In our business, do we ignore the important things while tending to the mundane things? I admit, I am guilty of cleaning the kitchen or doing busy work when I could be spending time with my kids. Better yet, I could get my kids involved in the task I do. It needs to be done anyway and it will also teach them responsibility. Doing things together can be family time and teaching all at the same time. They will not always be small. They will not always be stuck at home when they get their drivers licence. I need to take advantage of the time I have now.

What activities have a lasting effect on your family? Being out of sight while doing busy work or playing a game with the kids? What has lasting affects? I pray I am not so concerned with organizing my life that I don't live in my life. I worry I am trying to do too much and missing opportunities to spend time with my family.

Looking at the verses, I realized that the person giving mint, dill and cummin, apparently was taking care of physical matters-giving of what he produced to satisfy the law. Everyone can see what you give physically. Everyone can see how often you are in church and how you treat people and what you say behind people's back. What this person was neglecting, and what Jesus was cautioning, was the fact that the outside stuff was being tended to but not the inside attitude. The person did not tend to the heart--justice, mercy and faithfulness. Jesus knew their heart was not 'in it' when they gave of their possessions.

Even though we may be able to trick people in that they see our outward actions (they cannot see into our hear) we cannot trick God. He can see our heart. And, if we are around people long enough, like at church and church activities and work and school, our heart-attitude will seep out in what we say, what we do and how we act toward others, so we are really not tricking them at all. There is a teacher at my kid's school that rolls her eyes when she sees me and looks disgusted. I wonder if she even knows she has that reaction every time she sees me. Hmmmm. Her heart is seeping out.

Work on your heart. If your heart is right with God, what you seep will shine and look beautiful too...and not with fool's gold either.