When Easter Makes Sense

Getting older has an upside. It's called Wisdom! When I was a child and even a young adult, I didn't truly "get" Easter. I knew Jesus died on a cross even though he wasn't guilty of anything, and I knew he rose from the dead on the third day. I believed he did it for us because of his great love, yet the full meaning of what it was really about escaped me.

Now that I'm old and wise (heh heh), I get it. But I didn't acquire this understanding just by celebrating birthdays. It came from reading the Bible. Sounds simple, and yet it wasn't until I was in my thirties that I truly became a student of the Word. Imagine my utter amazement when I discovered that reading the Bible from cover to cover--from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21--makes things soooo much clearer than picking and choosing verses and books to read. The Bible truly is a story, and as a writer of fiction, that really speaks to me. I wouldn't pick up a novel and start reading from the middle or flip to this page or that page. I'd read it from Chapter One, page one, and continue on until I reached the end.

Don't get me wrong. I am NOT saying the Bible is fiction. Far from it! But it IS God's story. A story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And when you read this amazing story, you can't help but see the order--the plan--that was in place from the very first four words:

"In the beginning GOD..." Genesis 1:1

The word for GOD used here is Elohim. It's plural. Why? Because God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all present at the creation. When God made man, he said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." Genesis 1:26

John 1:1-3 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men."

When Jesus left heaven to come to earth, he knew it was temporary. He knew he'd only live a mere thirty-three years before he would die a horrific death on a cross, yet he came willingly. He lived in relative obscurity the first thirty years of his life, earning a living with his hands, and obeying the Laws of God. Yet he had a far greater purpose. When John the Baptist saw him, he spoke truth and prophecy about Jesus: "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29

Those words came true when Jesus was crucified. He was nailed to the cross at 9:00 AM, the time of the Jewish morning sacrifice. He committed his spirit into the the hands of God the Father at 3:00 PM, the time of the Jewish evening sacrifice. When he spoke, "It is finished," (John 20:30) he became THE sacrificial Lamb for all humanity. He bore all our sins--every single one that I've committed, and that you've committed, and that every person who ever lived committed!--offering us reconciliation with God in a way that had never happened before. And God himself acknowledged this new relationship, this new covenant, by tearing the veil--a huge, thick curtain in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies, the place where he dwelt, from the rest of the temple--making it possible for us to approach him, to know him, as very few had experienced up until this point.

My prayer for you on this Easter Sunday is that you will know the truth of the cross and the empty tomb, and that the truth will set you free! Free from sin, free from shame, free to live with hope and joy, free to forgive and be forgiven, free to give and receive, free to die in the knowledge that Jesus has prepared a new home for you where you will dwell in God's presence for all eternity. 

That, my friend, is Easter. 

May you and yours have a blessed day celebrating all that Jesus is!!

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

~Michelle

In the Beginning...

February is known as the Month of Love. I've been loved my whole life. My parents loved me. Family and friends love me. Twenty-nine years ago this April I married the love of my life, the bestest hubby in the world! When I gave birth to two amazing little boys, my understanding of human and God-love grew exponentially!

But let me tell you about a different kind of love affair...

I love my Bible. I mean, I love my Bible. I love my Bible!

Get it?

God's written word has become like breath to me. I can't live without it. I can't function without the life-giving nourishment it gives my soul. If I try to begin my day without getting into the Word, I get the feeling something important is missing. And more often than not, I'll have a really icky day. Not because of the things that happen necessarily, but  because of my own attitude and thought process toward whatever comes my way. It's just so much better to start out the day with a word from the Lord, ya know?

I didn't always feel this way. Growing up in a Christian home, we had plenty of Bibles around. I often saw my Mom reading her Bible, and when my Grandma moved in with us my Senior year, I found comfort in passing her open door to see her sitting in her Lazy-Boy recliner reading the Word. But very seldom did I pick up my own Bible to read. Very seldom did I turn to God's word for answers to life's problems. I was a married woman with children before I fully understood the powerful resource I had within my grasp. Now I cherish God's word! Like many of you, I have an abundance of Bibles to choose from:

• A white-covered King James version given to me by "Mother and Daddy" on June 30, 1971
• A Children's edition of the Living Bible given to me by our church Christmas 1973
• The Living Bible given to me by "Mom and Dad" Christmas 1980. I would graduate from high school and head off to college a few months later. I'm sure my parents hoped the Word of God would go with me!
• For Christmas 2001, my sweet husband bought me the New International Version Bible. Funny, he accidentally bought a Large Print, but I'm so glad! My eyes ain't what they used to be, so the larger print is awesome! This is the Bible I read every morning. I have so many, many scriptures highlighted or underlined, with notes written off to the side, some with meaningful dates. If our house ever caught fire (Lord, never!), that Bible would be the first thing I'd grab! It is literally my life. 
• In 2003, hubby gave me The Message Bible, which is a way-cool version. Makes things so, so clear sometimes. 

Every Bible, no matter the version, is God's word to us. It's a story of His great love for mankind. So many, many lessons are within those pages. So many, many lives touched by God's amazing grace. I honestly don't think I will ever tire of reading my Bible. Seriously. I learn something new every single time I open it!

But I came to an interesting conclusion while reading in the Book of John. Despite the fact that the Bible contains 66 books with 1,189 chapters and somewhere around 31,000 verses....

...there are only TWO verses that really, truly matter when it comes to our faith. Twenty-seven words, to be exact:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

Those two verses sum up everything we need to know about God. In fact, you can whittle those sentences down even further:

"In the beginning GOD!"

"In the beginning was the WORD!"

God is the Creator of everything. He has always been and will always be. And John 1:1 makes it abundantly clear that Jesus--the Word--is God. John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Those two truths -- God is the Creator and Jesus is God -- are the very foundation of our faith. They are what we build everything else upon. Without those two principals firmly rooted in your heart, the rest of the Bible probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense. 

If you aren't a regular Bible reader, I encourage you to become one. God speaks through His word. Let Him speak to you today!

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This week's Shout-Out countries are:

USA, UK, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Georgia, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Africa, Slovenia

If the Eye is the Window to Your Soul...

There is a phrase that goes something like, "The eye is the window to your soul." Apparently no one is quite clear on the origins of the quote, as it has been said by many greats throughout the ages, in various forms. Some want to attribute it to the Bible, but they would be disappointed. It's not there. Not in that exact wording, anyway. I'll get to the similar verses in a minute, but first let me explain why I'm thinking about this phrase at all.

To begin, I want to say I'm not pointing fingers. I'm not judging anyone. I'm simply processing what God has laid on my heart about what I deem acceptable to see with the eyes He so graciously blessed me with.

As you may have heard, the movie adaptation of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" is scheduled to come out on Valentine's Day 2015. I won't climb onto my soapbox about the mockery of true love and relationships that this movie release date offers. Blogger Matt Walsh did climb on his soapbox over on his blog though and I encourage you to read it. Good stuff.

I proudly admit I have not read the book nor will I ever read the book. I heard enough about it and read enough excerpts that I knew my eyes would never grace the pages of a book known for the things this book is known for. Maybe that's not being fair to it or to the author---letting someone else's opinion sway me--- but that's too bad. I don't need to be sprayed by a skunk to know a skunk stinks and I should steer clear of them. I don't need to wade through a garbage dump to know how disgusting and smelly it would be. Same goes with "Fifty Shades." I don't need to read the book myself to know it is not something I should be reading.

And if I shouldn't read the book, there is no doubt in my mind I shouldn't see the movie. Why? Because, like the phrase I started this blog with says, "the eye is the window to your soul."

Jesus put it like this in Matthew 6:22-23: "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness."

I think it's also important to read the verses immediately prior to these words, because Jesus was talking about eternal treasures. (Matthew 6:19-21)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven...For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Eyes. Hearts. Treasures. They all go together. Hand in hand, if you will. What your eyes see, the rest of your body takes in and has to deal with. Pornography (or mainstream movies that might as well be labeled porn) is first seen with the eyes but we all know the body quickly follows. The explicit images are seared into our minds and remain there, whether we want them to or not. The Enemy of this world is a master at bringing stuff like that to the forefront of our memories, often causing people to go where they should not go, in mind and body. But if the images were never put there in the first place, he can't use them against us. It's that simple.

Paul told us what we should be doing instead: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent and praiseworthy -- think about such things." Philippians 4:8. Other translations say, "Fix your thoughts" or "dwell on these things."

Basically, what Paul is saying is don't waste your time on garbage like "Fifty Shades" or other things you know don't fit the description in the above verse. Fill your eyes with light instead of darkness. Jesus called himself "the Light of the world" in John 8:12. In John 12:46 he says, "I have come as Light into the world." The world offers far too much darkness and threatens to block out the Light if we let it. It's our choice, though. What we choose to see through our eyes will be part of our body forever.

So, the question we all have to answer is, if the eye is the window to your soul, what are you allowing into your soul?

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This week's Prayer Shout-Out countries are:
USA, Germany, France, China, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Russia 

Is Jesus Your Shepherd?

Being a shepherd is hard on your heart.

We've been the caretakers of a small herd of Barbado Blackbelly sheep since October. But in that short time I've suffered all kinds of worry, and ultimately some heartbreak, over those four-legged creatures. Are they finding enough water? Did they make it through the frigid night? What if a coyote attacks them? On and on. If you follow this blog, then you may remember my post from January 18 about the Great Sheep Escape and how God worked some serious miracles to bring them home. One of those miracles included a little lost lamb I dubbed "Junior." Here we are on that day:

Junior and Me

But anyone who owns animals knows bad things can happen. Cats and dogs get hit by cars. Fish float to the top of the tank and birds fall to the bottom of the cage. We even had a small dog once that was mauled by larger dogs in our neighborhood. Death comes to us all, even the pets we love.

And it happens to sheep who live within reach of predators.

In the past couple weeks, we've lost five lambs. It could be wild hogs, or coyotes, or both. The first lamb missing was Gimpy. He had a gimpy leg, but we'd been watching him and he was on the mend. Next to go were a set of new twins, pictured below. I'd dubbed them "George Lincolnton" because they were born around President's Day. My oldest son was born on Abe Lincoln's birthday, and as a young boy he used to say he was born on "George Lincolnton's" birthday. The fourth lamb to disappear was Junior's lookalike. He had similar coloring to Junior, but was just a bit lighter. I mourned all of them, especially the tiny twins.

Twins George Lincolnton

But when we discovered Junior missing yesterday morning, I lost it. "Not Junior!" I cried. Surely he'd just become separated from the herd. He and his mama had wandered away from the group once before. Maybe he'd done it again, like the day of the Great Sheep Escape. Mama is the tamest sheep out of the bunch, to the point that I've petted her multiple times as I'm feeding them corn. She and Junior were kind of my favorites. I just couldn't accept that Junior had become the latest casualty, so I set off in the ATV to search the 350 acres, believing he had to be somewhere. Even Mama Sheep thought so, because she kept calling him. But after hours of driving around, hollering for him, rattling a sack of corn, looking in every one of their favorite locations, he was still no where to be found.

That's when the hard reality of being a shepherd set in.

A shepherd can't always protect their flock from danger. Sheep, like people, have a mind of their own. Instead of staying in an area where they would be fairly safe from predators, they like to hang out in the hills where the coyotes and hogs roam. They don't understand they are putting themselves in danger by their choices. Choices that make sense to them but are ultimately very bad and very dangerous.

I understand now why Jesus likened us to sheep. As our Shepherd, he wants to keep us safe, but sometimes our choices put us in danger. Danger of attack from the Enemy. Danger of eternal death. We have to listen to his voice, like the sheep listen to The Sheep Whisperer and me when we go out to check on them. We have to heed Jesus's "rules" if you will, in order to keep our soul and body safe. The Shepherd only wants what is best for his sheep, yet we sheep often disregard what Jesus says or what our heart tells us is right and good. We want to do things our way, but often our way is the most dangerous way. Like the coyotes and hogs that are killing my sheep, the Enemy of this world is drooling over you and me. He's just waiting for us to wander away from the Shepherd. And when we do, that's when he attacks.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a casualty like little Junior. I don't want my Shepherd mourning over me because the Enemy got a hold of me. I want my life choices to align with God's Word. I want to listen to his voice, and know him, and find rest and comfort in him.

That is my prayer for you, too! Jesus will leave the ninety-nine obedient sheep to go out and search for the lost lamb who wandered away, just like I did. But sometimes it's too late. Sometimes the Enemy has already won. Don't be a Junior. Your Shepherd is calling you to safety this very moment. Listen!

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand." John 10:27-28 (but all of Chapter 10 is great!) 


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This week's Prayer Shout-Out countries are: USA, Czech Republic, Israel, Philippines, Poland, Ukraine (especially lifting you and your country!), Netherlands, Russia, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom

Lessons From Lazarus

One of my all-time favorite stories from the Bible is about Lazarus. Not only is it mind-boggling that he really, truly died and was raised to life again, but there are so many, many powerful nuggets of truth sprinkled all throughout John 11. 

Let's dive in!

"Now a man named Lazarus was sick." (John 11:1)

We don't know what was wrong with Lazarus, but it was obviously pretty serious. One thing we do know about Lazarus is that he and his two sister's were counted among Jesus' friends. Back in Luke 10:38 Jesus is a guest in their home. In Mark 14:3 and John 12:3 Mary is found pouring out an expensive jar of perfume on Jesus to anoint him before he goes to Jerusalem. And when Jesus is told that Lazarus is sick, he says, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep." (John 11:11)

Let me stop here and ask you a vital question: Are you a friend of Jesus? Is he welcome in your home? Would you give him your best? Does he call you friend? If you answered 'no' to any of those questions, I hope and pray you will do what you need to do to change your answers to YES before another minute passes!

When Jesus finally makes his way to Bethany, Mary and Martha are understandably upset. Their beloved brother is dead. They know, too, had Jesus been there, Lazarus could have been healed.

"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." (John 11:21-22)

Martha believed Jesus was the Christ (v. 27). She knew he had power to do something amazing. But what?

When Mary arrives where Jesus is, her tears move him so deeply that he himself weeps. (v. 33-35) To me, the two simple words of John 11:34 -- "Jesus wept" -- are two of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible. Jesus already knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, so his were not tears of mourning. Rather, they were tears of compassion. He loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus so much that their pain became his pain. The depth of their love and loss moved him to the point of weeping.

Friend, my heart tells me that Jesus still weeps with us when we hurt. I believe His love for us still runs so deep that he feels our pain in his own heart. I find that truly, truly comforting.

Finally, Jesus goes to the tomb where Lazarus' body was buried and he does the unthinkable. He asks for the stone to be moved away from the entrance. Martha is horrified. "But Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days." (v. 39)

Funny how Martha's faith from just a few verses ago has now slipped. Isn't that just like us humans? We say we believe something, yet when it's tested we aren't so certain anymore. Yes, Lazarus was dead. His body would have already started to decay. I can't imagine the odor that would have come out of that tomb.

But God is a God of the impossible.

Back in John 5:25 Jesus declared something that Martha, Mary, you and I should never forget:

"I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."


Do you get it?!

Not even a dead, decayed, stinky, rotten, maggot-filled body can be prevented from hearing the voice of Jesus! Death cannot separate us from Him! (Romans 8:38) So, if even Lazarus heard Jesus say, "Lazarus, come out!" (v. 43), it isn't at all crazy to believe that YOU and I can hear the voice of Jesus calling to us! Calling us out of sin. Calling us out of unbelief. Calling us out of eternal death.

"Take off the grave clothes and let him go." (v. 44)

Can you imagine how cool it would have been to be there to see Lazarus wrapped up like a mummy, walking out of the grave?! And don't you know he had some a-mazing stories to tell?

Wow!

Who knew we could learn so much from a dead guy!

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This week's Prayer Shout Out Countries are:
USA, UK, Australia, Germany, India, Ukraine, Greece, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Taiwan, Mongolia, Singapore

The Day Jesus Got All of Me!

May 27th is a special date for me. It's both a birthday and an anniversary of sorts. Let me explain.

Way back on May 27, 1992, I was a young mother. Taylor, my oldest son, was fifteen months old and I was a stay-at-home mommy. It was a Wednesday. Our normal routine consisted of me putting Taylor down for a nap after lunch and I'd take one myself. That day, however, I couldn't sleep. As I lay on my bed, I had a strong urge to read my Bible. Now, today that would not be anything unusual. My Bible is a huge part of my life nowadays, but back then it wasn't, I'm ashamed to say. Even though I grew up in a Christian home, went to church regularly, and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior as a young girl, reading my Bible at home wasn't something I did very often.

My parents gave me the Living Bible for Christmas in 1980, just a few months before I graduated from high school. Mom wrote this inscription: "To Michelle, With our love ~ Mom and Dad, Christmas 1980, Psalms 119:11." If you're not familiar with that particular psalm, let me quote it for you:

"I have thought much about your words, and stored them in my heart so that they would hold me back from sin." (The Living Bible)

I like the NIV version too:

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

My parents understood how important the Word of God is and wanted to make sure I did too.

But back on May 27, 1992, I wasn't thinking about all of this. I was tired and would have rather slept, but God had other plans for me that day. I took out that Living Bible. I imagine I flipped through the pages -- I don't recall specifically -- but somehow I landed in John 6. Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He refers to himself as "The Bread of Life." (v. 35) He talks about those who have seen him and yet still don't believe.

But it was verses 37 through 40 that captured my heart that day.

"But some will come to me -- those the Father has given me -- and I will never, never reject them. For I have come from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to have my own way. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the Last Day. For it is my Father's will that everyone who sees his Son and believes on him should have eternal life -- that I should raise him at the Last Day."

Reading those words that day opened my eyes to something I hadn't understood up until that point. I realized that while I had ALL of Jesus, He didn't have ALL of me! And He truly, truly wanted ALL of me! He didn't want to lose me! He was willing to fight for me. He was willing to die for me!

That day -- May 27, 1992 -- I surrendered everything to my Lord Jesus Christ. I fell to my knees there in my bedroom and wept tears of repentance. Tears of overwhelming gratitude. And tears of pure joy as the Holy Spirit filled me to overflowing in a way I had never experienced. Just as Jesus said in Acts 1:5, I was baptized with the Holy Spirit right there in my ordinary house, on an ordinary day, with my baby sleeping down the hall and my husband away at work.

What an amazing day that turned out to be! My life has never been the same!

Fast forward nine years. For some time, the Lord had been asking me to get water baptized. If I'd ever been water baptized as a child -- and not only could I not remember but my mom couldn't either -- it wouldn't have been by submersion anyway. Our little Nazarene church in Santa Fe, New Mexico did not have a baptistry and I suspect most everyone was either sprinkled with water or taken to another church or swimming pool. So, being that I had no vivid memory of such a special event, it made sense that I should be baptized as an adult.

Problem is...I didn't want to. It had nothing to do with my not wanting to make a public profession of my faith. I was happy to tell the world that I belonged to Jesus! It had everything to do with my vanity. Yes, you read that correctly. I didn't want to get up in front of the whole church and look like a drowned cat.

So I made excuses. For two years.

"I want to be baptized in a river." "I want to be baptized in the Jordan River." On and on. When I finally couldn't fight the Holy Spirit any longer, I went and told my pastor I was ready to be baptized. Knowing I'd been using excuses for a while, he grinned and said, "I'll put some fish in the baptistry for you." (Love and miss Pastor Greg Mills!!)

On May 27, 2001 I was baptized. It felt sooooo good to be obedient to the Lord! (And no, there weren't any fish in the baptistry!) My reward came a few months later when a friend from church who'd been raised in the Catholic faith told me she was going to be re-baptized as an adult because of my example. How cool is that?!

This Sunday is May 27. Don't you know I'll be reliving some wonderful memories of the day I was reborn and the day I was dunked for Jesus!

Happy Birthday and Anniversary to me!!

P.S. If you have never given ALL of you to Jesus or been baptized and need some encouragement to get'er done, shoot me an email at michelleshocklee@michelleshocklee dot com. I'd love to walk through the amazing experience with you!
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This week's Prayer Shout-Out countries are:
USA, United Kingdom, Philippines, Maldives, Russia, Norway, Germany, Kenya, Canada, Indonesia, Georgia, South Africa, India, China, Slovenia, Mexico, Ireland

When "Religion" Gets in the Way

Have you ever witnessed a miraculous healing? I mean the type that happens right before your eyes. One minute a person is a certain way, the next that person is healed and whole. I haven't been privileged to witness anything like this...yet...but I know some folks who have. On mission trips in Mexico, friends of ours saw some miraculous healings take place. I've also heard pastors, missionaries, etc. tell amazing stories of blind people seeing, visible tumors disappearing, and on and on.  Really cool stuff that shows us God is still in the business of miracles!

Lately I've been reading in the Gospels. I especially love reading about the sick, blind and crippled people coming to Jesus to be healed. His compassion is so beautiful. One of my favorite stories is found in Luke 5:17-27. It's about a paralytic who is brought to Jesus by some of his friends. The crowd gathered around the house was so thick and large, these men couldn't even get close to the door let alone get their friend inside so Jesus could heal him. What to do, what to do?? These awesome friends didn't give up. They didn't say, "Sorry, dude, but we can't do anything else." They came up with a plan.

"When they could not find a way to [get inside] because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus." (Luke 5:19)

That is faith!! That is true friendship! Don't ever give up on your friends and loved ones who need to be healed -- whether physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually -- by Jesus!

Today, however, I read about a miracle that really made me sad. Not because of the person who was healed, but because of the reaction of those who witnessed it.

In John 9 we find a man who has been blind since birth. Back in those days, people figured the parents had been terrible sinners in order to have a child born without sight. But Jesus told his disciples that was not true. In fact, he says "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." (v. 3)

Lesson for us: God always has a plan, even for the "bad" things in our life!

Jesus goes on to heal this man's blindness. Can you imagine being able to see for the first time in your life!? Wow! Unspeakable joy must have filled this man's heart.

But the Pharisees didn't see it that way. They didn't see a man filled with joy. They didn't see a man blind from birth seeing the world around him for the very first time. They didn't rejoice that God had done something amazing! What they saw instead was religion. Why? Because this wonderful miracle took place on the Sabbath. And according to their very skewed understanding of the Law of Moses, they believed Jesus was breaking the law by performing miracles on the Sabbath.

"This man [Jesus] is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." (v. 16)

UNBELIEVABLE!!

A man has just been healed of life-long blindness and all they can do is grumble. This isn't the first time they reacted to a miracle this way. In Matthew 12:9-13 Jesus heals a man's shriveled hand on the Sabbath and the Pharisees have a fit. That, my friend, is Religion. When you are so set on keeping laws and rules and finding fault with every good thing going on around you, you are the one who is blind.

"For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will be blind." ~Jesus in John 9:29

God absolutely gave us laws to abide by. Jesus himself said he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17) But when those laws become greater than God, that's when we have a big ol' problem. That's when we can't see what God is doing right in front of our eyes. That's when the religiousness of being a Christian becomes greater than Christ himself.

Yikes!

I don't want to be blind. What about you?

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Today's Prayer Shout-Out countries are:
USA, Russia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Malaysia, South Africa, Slovenia, Ukraine, Israel, Latvia, Australia