Wash Your Soul too!

May 26, 2025, Monday Message:

Luke 11:41 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.”

I tell my grandchildren to wash their hands before we eat. God told the Jews to wash their hands before a meal. The Pharisees called it a commandment or a law, and they came up with an elaborate ceremony ensuring its implementation. Sure, it pleases God if we don’t put germs and dirt into our God-given bodies. But God’s words weren’t about religion; they were about keeping mankind healthy!

Jesus was invited to a Pharisee home for a meal, and he skipped the hand-washing part. To say the Pharisees went nuts would be an understatement! Time for Jesus to separate man-made ceremonies from common sense!

The Pharisees washed their dishes, inside and out, but only cleaned their bodies on the outside. The inside portion, their souls, were a filthy mess. Obsessed with their concern for observing the Law, they overlooked God’s commands telling them to love their neighbors. That principle was huge with Jesus, who taught that the most important commandment was loving the Lord, and the next, like it or equal to it, is to love our neighbors. A person could perform a perfect religious ceremony that would be meaningless if they showed no compassion for their fellows.

Today is Memorial Day in the US. We remember and honor our ancestors. We remember and honor those who gave their lives so that we could live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. I don’t like wars, and there are currently about 80 conflicts in our world where people are shooting at one another with real bullets! Wars are typically about power and money. And wars become good people defending themselves against evil aggression. How much better our world would be if everyone could love their neighbors like Jesus taught, rather than shooting at them!

God will eventually have his way!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship