Don't be a Pharisee!

Good Thursday morning, my friends.

In John 11:47-48, just after Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, we read:

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

   "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

How many people do you know who are afraid to put their faith in Jesus because the feel it will cost them their position and their possessions?  

How many of us are afraid to surrender all areas of our life to Him for the same reason?  

I think the easy answer to that is: all of us.  There is always some area of rebellion in our lives.  There always will be.  Faith is a journey, not a destination.  Little by little we learn to trust Him more and we need to do that by allowing Him to work in our lives.  If we hold everything we have so tightly in our grubby little hands that He cannot remove anything, then He cannot add anything either.

So don't be a Pharisee - trust in Christ even if it means you may lose something.  You will be amazed at what you gain.

Amazing grace and eternal peace to you today,

Bruce

Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. 

All that I am and all that I possess You have given me. I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. 

Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.

St. Ignatius Loyola

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca