Tread Carefully

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

TREAD CAREFULLY

Matt 23:33-36

33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, nwhom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

NIV

Here is where we need to tread very carefully. This is the strongest language we have heard from Jesus toward those teachers of the law and the Pharisees. It is without question that Jesus knew their hearts. It did not matter their appearance of righteousness and piety for inward, within their inner man, or as some would say, their hearts, lay evil filled with deceit. They had evil intentions toward Jesus, and he knew they would continue to have that evil within toward those Jesus would send with the gospel message. We know that Stephen was stoned, and James was crucified as were many others who spread the gospel. Many were martyred by the Jews, persecuted by them, as we know how Saul was so blatant in his efforts to exterminate the followers of Jesus, until, of course, he was met by Jesus and converted and had his name changed to Paul and became one of the most powerful messengers of the gospel. However, Jesus knew their evil hearts, and condemned them to hell. He passed judgment on them right there and then. We, however, have no such authority and that is why we must tread so carefully amount both the people in the community of faith and the people of the world. We have been given a command to love both our neighbor and our enemy if we can call the people of the world an enemy. If they are not followers of Jesus then they are enemies of God, although he loves them the same as he loves those who have accepted his Son. Nevertheless, it is not up to us to judge any man, for that matter, not even ourselves. All power, all authority, all judgment is reserved for Jesus and Him alone. In fact, there is but one way to escape the condemnation of hell, and that is through faith in Jesus. Unless a person is born again, they will not see the kingdom of heaven, but will experience the wrath of God and will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. Still, once again, we cannot know any of the future for all people, each must decide for themselves and change their heart, or their inner man from being bent toward evil to following Jesus. So, we walk through this life with care and concern for all people, wanting none to perish as we, ourselves, walk with Jesus being tender in heart, humbling ourselves before him.