October 1: GIVING GOOD A BAD NAME

Have you ever heard someone described as “so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”? It’s not very complimentary for religious folks. It was said of the Pharisees during the time of Jesus that they gave being good a bad name.
They were good people. They did good things. But they were so obnoxious about their goodness. Bragging about their goodness, they made other people miserable. The holier they became, instead of becoming humble (as true religion should do), they became self-righteous. Then they became the self-appointed watchdogs of everyone else’s actions.
Little by little their righteousness began to be very surface, far removed from the heart. The Law of God began to be divided and sub-divided into unreal demands that drove people away from God. This superficial religion could defend the Ten Commandments while plotting the death of Jesus.
When religion is divorced from the spirit of God, it is open to extremism. Religion becomes religiosity. Piousness becomes piosity.
Jesus made religious experts mad in the first century and still does. Jesus shows us how to have a heart relationship with God. That relationship bears fruit in many wonderful ways. For instance, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
True spirituality produces a personality that is winsome and magnetic, drawing people into community. Jesus taught us that you know people by their fruit. (Matthew 7:16) The heart condition will come out.
The old saying about not “drawing flies with vinegar” applies here. Boastful, self-righteousness drives people away from religion. “Make a tree good and its fruit good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:33-34) Let us strive to be consistent from the heart outward.

“Save us, O God, from trying to impress people with our own personal
holiness and make us diligent to expose your holiness. Amen”