Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them… For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
I spent much of my life somehow convinced that I needed to earn the approval of God. I’m unclear how I landed in this space. I was raised in a Christian environment that I would think emphasized the grace and Word of God. However I landed in my performance mentality, I was worn and tired, attempting to do everything right.
Such was the condition of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus. the Scribes and Pharisees demonstrated and demanded a life of obedience to the 613 commands found in the law. I imagine that a short observation of the life and activities of a Scribe or Pharisee served as a discouragement to the average Jewish person.
The Scribes and Pharisees looked like radical obedience. Jesus had another perspective.
To Jesus, radical obedience did not just look like an adherence to the law, but it looked like an embodiment of the spirit behind it: love. The way of Jesus required the believer to give their hearts without reservation.*
The radical obedience of Jesus says, “this is not just about what you do; it’s about who you are!”
The call of Jesus has not changed. Our focus must shift beyond what we do and into who we are. With what heart do we do what we do? Who are we? Are we performers looking for approval? Or are we sons and daughters living out of the reality of who we are as those who have received love and can then pass it along?
The kind of extreme obedience Christ called the people of Israel to and calls us to today requires that we go beyond sacrificial actions and offer ourselves as sacrifices to Him. When others observe a life like this, they see a life worth living.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to abandon the pressure you have to perform. You are good enough because He made you so. Receive that. Perhaps God wants you to live life from a place of understanding that it is not you who live, but Christ who lives in you. Maybe God wants you to say yes to radical, extreme obedience today.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 111, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 5:17-20) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).