Mixed messages; our society is full of them. My wife and I have been watching Dr.Oz lately and I enjoy his "take" on things, even if he does "preach" sometimes. Then a commercial comes on and somebody is trying to get you to do something that is good for their bottom line and NOT NECESSARILY GOOD FOR YOUR WAISTLINE! Then Dr. Oz comes back on and then the guilt starts. I really wish they wouldn't put fast food commercials on in between health shows. Reminds me of this billboard!! They didn't have TV in Jesus' day, but that doesn't mean there were not mixed messages out there. This passage from Luke is an example.
Luke 16:13-17 Complete Apostles' Bible
(13) No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
(14) Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were hearing all these things, and they were mocking Him.
(15) And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. Because that which is exalted among men is an abomination before God.
(16) The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone enters forcibly into it.
(17) And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.
A Pharisee who was really one at heart was a person who earned respect. This genuine "separated one" was a person dedicated to serving God wholeheartedly. There were those however, who did all the outward observances of the LAW correctly, but INSIDE they harbored evil. Again, MIXED MESSAGES! Jesus confronted those who did this time and time again and did not mix his message to them; hypocrites he often called them! In this passage they are likened to an abomination before God; OK, he didn't call them a hypocrite, but abomination isn't much better. God knows both your heart as well as mine and I pray that neither of us could ever be referred to in this way. Tomorrow, its going to be a little harder to visit Mickey D's for my Egg McMuffin and OJ. Maybe I'll go later and get a salad instead!!!