Tuesday, October 11th, 2022

Have you ever considered, while reading the Bible, how authoritative the words are? We all read so much each day -- a mixture of news articles, emails, and perhaps watch a few videos. When we read the Bible, do those words resonate within us at a higher level than the other words we read? Perhaps for some of us, but perhaps not for others. One need not look further than the fruits one bears to see their answer. Matthew 7:28-29 records the crowd's reaction to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. It says, "And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." The scribes mentioned are the Pharisees, the ruling class of rabbis in Israel of that time. Jews had lived under the teachings and strict laws of the Pharisees for many years, those laws being not of God but of man. But upon hearing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Matthew records how astonished they were, not at the beauty or inspiration of Jesus' words, but in their authority. It is easy to be convinced by beautiful or inspirational words, written or spoken, from any number of sources: politicians, media, even friends and family. But the true measure of a word is in it's authority, and authority comes only from God. Today, open your eyes and ears to better weigh the authority of words seen and heard; do they bear the authority of God or merely the instruction of man? Choose accordingly which you give weight to in your own life.

"And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." -- Matthew 7:28-29 NIV