Matthew 23:24 “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Jesus was certainly a master of descriptive language! This particular remark is so striking that it is quoted widely, but there is real question whether those using it are allowing Jesus’ words to change how they look at things. The whole issue here is priorities. It’s not that we want to make gnats a major part of our diet, it’s that trying to swallow a camel would do us major damage. (Of course, Jesus was skillfully using hyperbole here, but the point should communicate.) We do this all the time, being picky about, for example, being on time for church but being careless about what programs we watch on TV. It’s not that coming in late isn’t to be avoided, it’s that there’s a lot of rot on TV that can poison us from the inside out. Actually, as the song from H.M.S. Pinafore says, things are seldom what they seem. We need God’s help to see things as they really are. Otherwise we are blind guides, for ourselves and for others, just as Jesus says here. Deception is the devil’s forte. We need to recognize our huge capacity for being deceived and seek the Lord for Him to show us what is important and what isn’t, what is real and what isn’t.

I am not to be caught up in conspiracy theories, but neither am I to accept unquestioned the picture of reality that society tries to present to me. Rather, I am to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) in all things, allowing God to show me what is important and what is less so. I am to recognize that we are in the middle of an intense spiritual conflict, far broader as well as far more intense than the physical conflicts we see reported on the news. As Francis Shaeffer famously asked, “How shall we then live?” I am to seek to let the Lord set my priorities and commit myself to live by them, remembering that He is the Victor, and in Christ I am too.

Father, You are giving me little lessons in this all the time. Help me learn what You are teaching me! Help me see things more and more from Your perspective, both as to what is real and what is not, and what is important and what is not. May I be Your agent to do Your will in every area of my life, whether I ever see the “big picture” or not, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!