We all want to change. We want to be better and grow in our faith. If we are honest, there might be a large gap between where we are and where we want to be.
How do we close this gap? The only way is with truth and humility.
April 23, 2023 • Matthew 23:1–15
We often think of holiness regarding purity and sinlessness, but it means more. Holiness speaks to God's glory, God's righteousness, and God's power. When he saw how different God was, Isaiah said, "Woe is me." God wants these "Woe is me" moments to inspire us to change. He wants to clean us and make us holy so we can have "Send me" moments. When we say God is holy, we can't stop there because God is different so that He can make a difference. So, we should let His holiness change us and join Him in changing our world.
Jesus was never afraid to call out the hypocrisy and deception around him - especially when it came to others being mistreated. Nothing reveals our hypocrisy more than magnifying the sins of others while minimizing our own. The good news is that Jesus loves the self-righteous and hypocritical as much as he loves everyone else.