End of Day Seven, Start of Day Eight:
Matthew 5:17-24
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif[b] shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Torah scholars, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven!
21 “You have heard it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder and whoever commits murder shall be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca’ shall be subject to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be subject to fiery Gehenna.
23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering upon the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
Today I judged a man. Called him fool in my heart.
Doesn‘t sound so bad. What if I said something like this though:
Today I killed a man. Called him all sorts of vile names.
Has a bit more weight to it.
Today was sort of hard. Many small things adding up to a sort of offense with the world. With that sort of mindset, everything just starts to get on your nerves. Start looking for A reason to be upset, and you will find one. And I filled my heart with offense towards people.
Vile actions and words that left me feeling a bit sick towards myself and others.
And instead of judging the actions as evil (the fruit of those actions), I judged the people as vile.
And I do this constantly. I speak out death over people and judge them.
This makes me subject to the judgement of a council and the fires of Gehenna.
Gehenna was supposedlay the city’s garbage dump whose fires burned continually to burn up all trash into nothingness.
With this sort of mindset, I make myself in danger of being burned up into nothingness.
And yet, someone cuts me off in the street and I shout, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT!?!?”
This is something that needs to change in my life and fast.
How can I hope to be a pleasing servant to the Lord if I have anger towards his people?
How can I be a priest in the Lord’s temple if my heart is harboring anger towards his creation?
I can‘t. Simple as that.
Abba, I repent of my anger towards people. I repent of my judgement of people and their actions as an identity piece. I repent of my misgivings towards family, friends and those around me. I repent of having contempt towards those who do things I consider ”vile”, even though I do those very same things in the dark. Thank you for giving the mirror with which I can look at myself.
Please forgive me and help me learn to love your people. Help me to be obedient to your will and to control my tongue.
Please help me to reveal my sin to You and truly repent of it. Not just cut the top off but to actually uproot the cause.
Please help me to understand my indentity in you and fully press in to walk in your ways.