What Makes It Good

Monday, August 11, 2025

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, I seek You first-the knowledge of Your kingdom and Your righteousness. Fill my consciousness constantly and complete Your joy in me as I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name…

Memory verse:Jeremiah 15:19 ESV

Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.” 

Verse of the day: Psalm 119:14

14 “In the way of your testimonies I delight    as much as in all riches.”

Readings: Psalm 81-83 Romans 11:19-36  

What Makes It Good

Matthew 5:20-”For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

What made the hypocrisy so ugly and wrong to Jesus is that the scribes and Pharisees made it all look so clean and the fact that they treasured it so much.

Matthew 25: 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”

So ‘our righteousness’-what is that exactly? In Romans 4, Paul explains righteousness like this in verse 7:

‘ thosewhose sins are forgiven and sins are covered’.

This profoundly means sins forgiven because they are covered by the blood of Christ.

The scribes and the Pharisees had rejected the treasure of Christ-there is nothing more precious to the believer than Christ-nothing. The scribes and Pharisees saw treasure in nothing but self elevation and self recognition.

The message for us is that the most dangerous thing to our faith is worldly love for self. The kind of self love that puts self image and power over everything else is a sin barrier to anything from God.

Our lives are about dying to self and embracing God’s control of our lives in the love of Christ.

This is our prayer-God turn my heart completely to You in Christ Jesus.

...because He loves us, He will do it…

Father in Heaven,

Help me to hallow Your name above all. Help me to search Your kingdom will. Forgive me my rejection of the truth. Deliver me from worldly, self love.

Lord of all,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen