"We can learn tons of practical lessons for our everyday spiritual life from the teachings of Apostle Paul.
In Paul's letter to the Philippians, Paul warns the people not to follow Jewish external ceremonies. He even says to keep him as an example and imitate him in Chapter 3, Verse 17. If somebody has to boast about becoming righteous by following the Jewish tradition, Paul says it is him. He calls himself a pure-blooded Hebrew who followed all the rules in his past. But after he came to know Jesus, he stopped following the unnecessary traditions and focused on moving forward in becoming spiritually mature. Let us not develop any self-righteousness as we do the things we ought to do as Christians. Let us not get used to it and call it our righteousness. May we strive every day to win the race by trying to imitate Christ. May we keep ourselves before His throne of grace, analyze ourselves, and develop and grow in godly habits and characteristics. May God give us the boldness to say, 'imitate me,' as Paul said. May those who see us see the Christ that we wear over us and not the self-righteousness that comes through any tradition.
Take a moment and think, are we able to say that we are not mere Christians by tradition but by being born again in the spirit? If we are prey to this self-righteousness, it is definitely very hard to come out of it. We can find ourselves always accusing or arguing with others by clinging onto following certain religious standards that we have been following for years. We would have lost the clarity to understand that we are at fault. There is no place for humbling ourselves because of our firm, useless beliefs. May God, by His power, raise us from such a deadly pit.
There is yet another dangerous pit where you find some people. They will not follow traditions, but will expect you to accept every wrong thing they do in the name of "Love". They are the prey for excessive teaching of grace or extensive believer of human love. Too much of anything, as we know, is good for nothing.
Beware of both pitfalls and ask discernment from God to give you the wisdom to balance. Like in Mathew 7:15, you shall know them by fruits. If you watch closely they expect love for
they do and there will be no shade of agape love(God's selfless love) which has its main element as sacrifice.
Dear God, thank you for giving us the knowledge of knowing Christ, which is above EVERYTHING in the world. Dear God, let us not consider anything, any tradition as valuable than you. May we have a heart that considers only you as a profit and nothing else. Help us to become more like you every day. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
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