I had an email recently sent to me that was signed, “a recovering Pharisee dextoxing from all my good works.” That got my attention! That’s what most of us have been! We’ve been listening to everybody’s opinion but God’s and what ends up happening is, we do the Pharisee “good works” routine. It’s a waste of time and the world can smell it! Eventually what I’ve noticed happens, is, pastors especially get stuck in a rut of routine. The challenge is, some “in heaven” mentor poured into their lives in times past, and they fear any veering away from what they were taught by this person, which unfortunately results in ineffectiveness as they age. It’s nothing more than Pharisee “good works.” I’ve been detoxing myself from religion that I thought was not even in my system. It feels good to love God because you want to and not because you have to!
