Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds (from verse 19)
This comes at the end of a phrase where Jesus pointed out that the religious leaders were not satisfied by either John’s fasting or by Jesus’ eating. No matter what either of them did, because it was not part of the establishment, it wasn’t good enough.
This is a big issue today. Christians cannot do anything right in the eyes of unbelievers. Those who focus on their families and the church are ridiculed and held up as being selfish, insular, and not reaching out to the community. Those who are involved with outreach activities like evangelism, or in “good works” type activities like missions, or volunteering at homeless shelters or pregnancy centres are also ridiculed as being those who are trying to coerce those around them into being Christians by their good deeds. Missions comes under special attack for this.
It is easy to get discouraged here. We can’t do anything right in the eyes of the world. But the thing is… we are not meant to! We are only to focus on doing right in the eyes of Christ. Wisdom, godly wisdom, will ultimately show up in our actions – in families and churches that are strong, in deeds that make a real difference both in people’s lives and in people’s eternities. And that is what we need to remember.
No comments:
Post a Comment