Law Redefined - Mat. 5:20

"But I warn you, unless you obey God better than the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees do, you can't enter the Kingdom of heaven at all!" Mat. 5:20

The Sermon on the Mount turned current Jewish thinking on its head. The belief was that it was all about obeying the law; if you did this list of things you were OK. What Jesus did was completely redefine what the list was and meant! It basically said that the Pharisees were wrong, and they were not going to heaven (unless they changed)! That what was important was the HEART behind the law, not the letter of the law itself. That if you were looking to the law for salvation, this is what the law REALLY says, and you are not capable of obeying it. Note that nowhere in the Beatitudes does it say, "God blesses those who obey the law." God blesses those who have the heart of God, or in King David's case, "A man after God's own heart." God isn't looking as much at what we do, as he is why we are doing it and what fruit comes of it.

God, you know the motives of man -- you know my motives, and they are far from always pure. Please forgive me and change my heart.

Today's reading: Mat. 5-7