Practice Makes Perfect - Brotherly Kindness
As a Christian, godliness is our ultimate goal. We should all desire to obey God and do what He desires. But, did you know that you can go to church every Sunday, pray all the time, say all the right things and do all the right stuff and yet still be alienated from God?
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Practice Makes Perfect - Brotherly Kindness
As a Christian, godliness is our ultimate goal. We should all desire to obey God and do what He desires. But, did you know that you can go to church every Sunday, pray all the time, say all the right things and do all the right stuff and yet still be alienated from God?
How can that be? Peter gives us a clue when he warns us that we must make sure that godliness is accompanied by brotherly kindness.
2 Peter 1:7
“...and in your godliness, brotherly kindness...”
Have you ever seen someone like that? I’m talking about someone who knows all the right stuff but they haven’t figured out the part about kindness?
Jesus saw them all the time. They were called Pharisees. Jesus had many confrontations with them about how they treated people. They knew the law but they had no clue about how to love and be kind. To them, worshipping God was about rules and rituals and it had nothing to do with how they treated people. Here’s what Jesus said about them:
Matthew 23:27-28
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Wow! You do not want to be wearing those shoes when Jesus comes back!! He called them “blind guides” and “sons of Hell.” Read Matthew 23 if you want to get the whole picture.
What was their great sin? They taught people to believe in a God who only cared about being religious. That is not God. Jesus taught about a God who loves kindness and mercy. Here is how the Bible lays that out:
Micah 6:8
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
That is what is important to the God that we worship. God is love and He desires kindness, not legalism and ritual. He wants changed hearts and He wants us to love others. He is a God who cares and He expects us to do the same.
