Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Character
- Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person. It is hearing from God and obeying. It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.
One of the
things that I love about the Gospels is that everywhere we look we find stories
focusing on the character of Jesus and the people around Him. Every day – if I wanted – I could write about
character. That’s why I usually save it
for days like today when we get neat things happening with contrasting
perspectives of character.
Do you hear
the question that the disciples in verse 12?
They tell Jesus that when He teaches about the importance of what comes
out of our mouth that the Pharisees get offended! Honestly, listen to what the disciples are
saying. The Pharisees care more about
external appearances than internal character!
By getting offended at Jesus’ teaching, they expose their character and
that they care about the wrong things.
The Pharisees care more about what a person does than who the person is.
On the other
hand, we can see the faith of the Canaanite woman in this chapter. She believes Jesus s powerful enough to help
her. She comes before Jesus, and in a
way, Jesus tells her no. But her
character is one who doesn’t quit about important things. Her character shines through as she is
willing to humble herself for the sake of others. Whereas the Pharisees are interested in
keeping up their appearances, this woman is willing to forgo any sort of
reasonable appearance just to have a moment with Christ.
Yu want to
know what good character looks like?
Look to this woman who humbles herself.
Want to know if you have any bad character issues? Take a look at what you get upset over. Anything that upsets you that is contrary to
God’s grace love and mercy shows character flaws, just like it does with the
Pharisees.
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