“Men always
ought to pray and not lose heart.”
Such an
important teaching by Jesus as He anticipates all that will happen once He has
been crucified, raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven.
He
encourages those men He is leaving behind to pray always because they are without
a physical, present Savior they can see with the eye and hear with the ear.
Those men, (including all of us,) would be departing the physical realm of
guidance, and moving into the spiritual one. (This explains the importance of
understanding WHERE the kingdom of God is.)
(The kingdom
of God is not a place, it is a heart attitude present in a man who desires to
be ruled by God. This establishes God’s Lordship, and it is only accomplished
by yielded-ness in man.)
This explains
the importance of praying always – in light of the evil present in this world -
and because the mystery of God remains for the mortal man seeking to understand
The Immortal God.
But there
can be a danger in the accumulation of Spiritual wisdom gathered and
experienced through constant prayer, and Jesus warns us of this as well:
It is
Spiritual pride. Jesus employs the Pharisees as an example of this.
The Pharisees
began as a needful institution. When the Israelites returned from exile, the
Pharisees eventually emerged as a body of leadership within the Jewish faith
intent on keeping God’s Word and departing from any vestiges of idolatry which
had led them into exile. God hates idolatry, and He loves those who keep His
Word. It is needful in any society to have those present whose role is to
protect God’s truths and present them to the people as guidance for their
lives.
By the time
of Jesus, the Pharisees had been performing this role in Jewish society for
over 150 years. They were looked up to as being the seat of all knowledge. The
problem is they became prideful as they were looked up to. Instead of being
humbled by the acclaim, they looked down upon the people they ruled over. Jesus
lets us know this attitude of Spiritual pride is detestable to God. No man is
above the Law of God. ALL men are broken by its precepts.
-Pastor Bill
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