As most of you can testify, I generally try to keep this devotional on the positive side. For the most part, I want to help you start the day with a little encouragement. And since God’s Word is filled with grace and hope, that’s not hard to do. However, there are days when God’s Word challenges us and invites us to ask: “Am I really walking in the path Jesus laid out for me?”

For example, in today’s word from Matthew 23, Jesus gives words of warning to the Pharisees. “Woe to you,” he says. “You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. Yet you yourselves do not enter…” (Mt. 23:13) Are there people who we tend to exclude from the kingdom? And if so, what are we doing to bring them back into God’s embrace?

In a similar way, Jesus says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you’ve neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.” (Mt. 23:23) Do we sometimes “major in the minors,” focusing on external obedience, rather than “keeping the main thing the main thing” by looking for ways that the love, and grace, and character of Jesus can be expressed through us?

And then, over in Revelation, Jesus speaks to one of his churches and says, “I know where you live” – right in the middle of a culture that, in too many ways, is committed to evil. “And I affirm you,” Jesus says, because “you remain true to my name…Nevertheless, I have a few things against you. (Rev. 2:13-14)

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that our faith in Christ is about so much more than “getting a warm hug” from God and being able to face the day with a positive attitude. No, faith in Christ calls us to turn away from the world’s ways, so that he can walk with us – and can produce in us – a life that expresses his character through us.

So today, what do you need to change for that to happen?

May the grace and goodness of Jesus make us eager to repent and follow him. Amen.