15“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15)
Thoughts: This is the third woe. The Pharisees wanted people to be like them. But they themselves were lost. They were trying and trying- and trying to be good but could never get there. They were running like hamsters on a wheel- but going nowhere (like Sisyphus in Tartarus/hell rolling a rock to nowhere continuously).
The Pharisees converted people to their way of torturous tireless trying but failing because of sin. The Pharisees needed grace but they refused it because they thought they could get to the kingdom by their own effort. They turned their own Messiah down. So any converts they made were brought down with them.
There are religious people who steer people away from God. The Pharisees did this. They were sincere, but they forgot about grace and God's help and love. Instead they believed it was all about obedience and duty. Duty without heart is an empty shell. Converting others to that kind of religion only brings them down too.
Prayer: Lord, help me to see that I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Help me to see I need your help- your grace to remove my failures.
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