Is There a Camel in Your Teacup? (Santosh Poonen)

There is “another Jesus” that will lead you to “another righteousness” which is false (II Corinthians 11:4). A righteousness that does not make you more merciful to others is a counterfeit! Holiness without mercy is legalism! (Luke 18:9-17) What God expects of us is very simple: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God. God expects perfection in being merciful (Luke 6:36, Matthew 5:48). This is the “Golden Rule”: “Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them” (Matthew 7:12, MSG) Treat others better than they deserve… because that’s how God is merciful to you. Forgiveness from God is conditional (Matthew 6:12,14,15; 18:21-35). These are characteristics of the unmerciful: proud of their holiness and despise others (Luke 18:9); nitpick at rules and blind to needs of others (Matthew 23:4; Matthew 12:1-7; Luke 13:10-16); no compassion for sinners (Matthew 9:10-13). Being exact in following the letter of the commandments while having an unmerciful attitude is like straining the gnat out of your teacup, but missing the camel inside (Matthew 23:23-24). Don’t swallow the camel!