Keeping God’s agenda

October 10, 2007

By Gary Rogers

Jesus was amazed at the things people would do motivated by religion. The Pharisees, for example, emphasized the trivial and overlooked the important. They were trying to figure out how to pay tithes on the spices in their food, but were overlooking justice, mercy and faith.

Justice, mercy and faith are important to Jesus. The souls of mankind are important to Jesus. Working with our Savior in building His kingdom is important to Jesus. Taking our talents and investing them to bring eternal results for Him is important in His evaluation. Being a faithful servant with the efforts of our life is important to Jesus. Contrasted with those goals, becoming caught up in superficial religious acts is a waste in Jesus’ estimation.

In Matthew 23 Jesus used the word “hypocrites” eight times to refer to those caught up in empty religion. The picture He draws in verse 24 is the Pharisees straining their water so they wouldn’t swallow a gnat, but then they would ingest a camel. Jesus had to have said this with a bit of humor intended.

He presented a drastic contrast — straining out the smallest debris in a drink and then choking down one of the most exaggerated things you could possibly think of. With this contrast Jesus wanted to emphasize how ridiculous it was to place such importance on things not really on God’s agenda.

I have learned God is interested in the success of those who are motivated with His agenda. When we make His purpose ours we can know success is in our future. The greatest success for any believer should not be the acclaim of man, but the approval of God. Man looks at the outside. God looks on the inside. Man sees what you do. God sees why you do it. Make God’s agenda yours and your future will be filled with His blessings.

Gary Rogers is senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Coweta, Okla.