Being Right

Ever since we were first married, 14 years ago, Greg has studied and pondered the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7). He is not the kind of guy of person who walks around talking about this, but I would find the words written in notebooks and pieces of paper by his bed. 

Recently, a verse that has stuck out to Greg is from Matthew 5:20 when Jesus is teaching: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Being more right than the Pharisees, with the hundreds of laws they followed everyday, seems to me a bit odd, and frankly, impossible. Greg explained that in our hearts we need to be more right than the Pharisees. If you read through the Sermon on the Mount you will see all the places where Jesus teaches us to be right is in our hearts. I know for me this will take a lifetime of emptying myself and allowing Jesus to fill me. 

I've been struggling for a while now with the schedule we keep with our kids with special needs; the doctors appointments, the therapies and the insurance negotiations. I find myself angry. When I look at my heart I am not angry with my kids for I truly love them for who they are. I find, however, that I am often angry with others. Do I want others to have a child with special needs? Not really, but somehow I want them to know how good they have it and how they should be grateful. I find myself judging some with how they spend their time or that they take for granted simple pleasures of being able to walk side by side with their four year old in a parking lot. I find many parents of special needs pulling away from the larger community and I am beginning to understand why. It’s not easy to keep our hearts pure and judgment free when we think we know what others are thinking or doing. 

Will you pray with us that we would continue to be refined to grow into the righteous people God wishes us to be? Would you pray for those we spend time with that we would not believe we know the truth until we actually do know the Truth? Lord, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.