Call To Pure Living - Christian Hope Church Home

12. To the scribes and Pharisees, RITUAL was more importantthan RIGHTEOUSNESS. The EXTERNAL was moreimportant than the INTERNAL. Religious RULES weremore important than religious FREEDOM. And outwardSHOW was more important than inward SINCERITY.***********************************************************************C O N C L U S I O NThe story is told of a woman who owned a beautiful white poodle.Every week she took her little white poodle to the local pet groomerfor a bath and haircut.And every day when she would take her white poodle for a walk inthe park she took great pride in how much whiter and cleaner herpoodle was compared to all the other dogs.But then one day a beautiful snow fell upon the town where shelived. And when she took her poodle for a walk in the snow shecould plainly see her dog’s whiteness looked dingy compared tothe pure whiteness of the snow.I think a lot of Christians see themselves the way thatwoman saw her poodle. In our self-righteousness we takegreat pride in looking “whiter” and “cleaner” than otherpeople because we go to Church every Sunday anddon‘t do a lot of things others do.. But compared to the purewhite righteousness of Jesus Christ, our righteousness looksso “dull” and “dingy” by comparison.Brothers and sisters, let’s “tear up” our “religious checklist”and pursue a genuine, life-giving, life-changing relationshipwith our Living Savior, Jesus Christ.That’s what it means to LIVE THE SALT LIFE!