My parents had a saying.  “Just because you can doesn’t make it right.”  Growing up in a world where many want it their way and will do most anything to get their way, these words began to make sense.  Legal documents are written in complicated language, created by lawyers who know legalese well and are written primarily and solely for their client’s advantage.   Lawyers work to remove all loopholes, making it difficult to impossible to oppose.  But does that make it right for all parties involved?

Jesus clarifies and extends the thinking of the crowd gathered on the mountain on matters of the heart, mind, and soul. He begins with what the world has said to them previously.  He understands what they already know and then our Master Teacher takes them higher in their thinking—to Kingdom of God thinking.  He teaches people what God thinks with how to live to please God.  This life for God is a matter of our hearts.  The Message puts these same words in our language so we can understand more readily what Jesus was saying then and now to us.

“You have heard it said…but I say to you…” begins our journey to know God more and to realize exactly what He wants us for us.  God wants us to reach higher, love greater still, so we can be more like Him in our behaviors.  It begins with what is in our hearts.  Blessed are those who listen and obey.  God brings out His best in us in the process of learning to walk in His ways.  The road is harder but the reward is much greater.

Matthew 5:21-32, The Message

Murder

^21-22 “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

^23-24 “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

^25-26 “Or say you’re out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don’t lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you’re likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won’t get out without a stiff fine.

Adultery and Divorce

^27-28 “You know the next commandment pretty well, too: ‘Don’t go to bed with another’s spouse.’ But don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those ogling looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.

^29-30 “Let’s not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here’s what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.

^31-32 “Remember the Scripture that says, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him do it legally, giving her divorce papers and her legal rights’? Too many of you are using that as a cover for selfishness and whim, pretending to be righteous just because you are ‘legal.’ Please, no more pretending. If you divorce your wife, you’re responsible for making her an adulteress (unless she has already made herself that by sexual promiscuity). And if you marry such a divorced adulteress, you’re automatically an adulterer yourself. You can’t use legal cover to mask a moral failure.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God’s love and care for us dives much deeper than our sins that entangle us.  It’s not about covering our sins with legal documents but it is about the condition of our hearts.  Our sins, not in part but the whole, are removed completely, to be remembered no more, from a repentant, sincere heart.  Selfish whims lead to moral failure.  Jesus died to remove our sins.  Jesus rose again, defeating death, to give us hope of life forever with Him!

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

There are no legal “loopholes” to search for in Scripture in order to obtain God’s love, mercy and grace without repentance.  Confessed sins, in Jesus Name who paid the debt of our sins, is the only Way to reconcile with God and mankind.  With the power of His Holy Spirit working in us; we stop looking for ways to justify our sins as we discover how that behavior only complicates our lives.  Avoid the “coverup” way of life at all costs!  It doesn’t look good on we who say we believe and follow Jesus.

Lord,

I confess my sins of wanting life to be better when it is me who needs to be better at hearing your Voice above all others and follow you.  I confess of worry and wonderings that block my view of You and Your will for me.  I confess my replays of my sin in my mind and remember that you don’t remember for you have forgiven me completely!  Thank you, Jesus for reconciling us to our Father God through your work on the cross.  Thank you, Holy Spirit for guiding my thoughts to higher places today.  Keep me focused on you all day long and into the night.  You are my hope.  You are my blessed assurance.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen.  I believe.