"For they say not"

This morning, as soon as my eyes opened, I heard these words very plainly in my head.

Not knowing what God was telling me, I did a Google search to see what I might glean...because as we all know, Google knows everything. ha!

Google instantly led me to Matthew 23:3. “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”

In this context, Jesus is instructing his followers to heed the teachings of the religious leaders (scribes and Pharisees) but to avoid imitating their actions because they do not live according to their own words.

This part emphasizes that the religious leaders, despite their flaws, held positions of authority and were entrusted with teaching God's law. Therefore, their instructions, as long as they aligned with God's word, should be followed.

Jesus highlights the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, who taught one thing but lived another. This scripture serves as a warning against blindly following leaders without discerning whether their actions match their words.

It is so important to dig into God's Word each day...know what the Bible says...do as God tells us!

Don't follow another...follow God!

Last Sunday, as I was teaching in the Children's church, I told the children that it was their responsibility to know what God's Word says. Even though I, or any leader, would not purposely teach them something incorrect, we are still human, and humans make mistakes.

I told them that it was their responsibility to take everything they are taught and then to find it in their Bibles, and read it straight from God's Word. I told them to make sure they were being taught correctly...and that they understand what the message was about.

I never realized I would be repeating those words in a post.

Encourage your children to read, to question, to understand what God's word says for themselves. And then to "follow" what God's Word says. Teach them not to follow others, not to be spoon-fed the word, and not to blindly accept whatever they hear.

And above all...let them see Jesus in you. Let your words and your actions match. Live out the words that you teach!

Several years ago, while teaching, I said that God was the one true God...all others were false gods. After class, a little girl came to me and said that when I said God was the "one true God...all others were false gods," she was offended.

Knowing that this little girl lived in a household that practiced two different religions (One parent worshipped God and one worshipped Budah), I told her that I knew how hard it was for her to understand when she was being taught different things from different people. I told her that I understood how difficult it was for her to know what was true and what was not.

"But...the key to it all (and I held up my Bible) was in her Bible...God's Word" I told her that the Bible is God's word and that everything in that book was true. I told her that when someone taught her something to ask them to show her where to find it in the Bible...and to read God's word for herself.

That was when she would know the truth.

She gave me a big hug...and away she went!

It's as simple as that...always lead them back to God's Word!