“O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [Matthew 16:8-12 ESV]
I can really relate to the disciples. So often my troubles seem so large.
So often the minutiae of forgotten bread obscures my thinking and makes me forget.
About the miracles of His provision and how He always meets my needs.
When I find myself worrying about forgotten bread I am reminded about my need to trust.
The Lord instructs me to trust Him with my heart and not lean on my own understanding.
Worry is an issue of the head but trust is a heart thing.
Jesus calls the teaching of the religious leaders leaven because of it's influence.
I sat under the teaching of a fundamentalist pastor for 16 years.
His teaching influenced me to embrace the scriptures in a literal and legalistic fashion.
His teaching fed a dark part of me and caused me to act judgmentally.
Such is why Jesus told his disciples to be on the alert when Pharisees and Sadducees taught.
It is why we must watch and beware of who we allow to influence our lives.
Lord, help me to discern when I am being influenced by false teaching.
... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love to get comments and usually respond. So come back to see my reply.
You can click here to see my comment policy.