I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 15th of September, 2024 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Matthew 23:24:

”Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” 

Religion is a killer. These are the words of Jesus. Now, do you know what a gnat is? I looked up the Oxford dictionary to find out the exact meaning of a gnat. A gnat is a small two-winged fly, resembling a mosquito. Now Jesus says, you strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel. We need to be so careful on this one. We go to Luke 6:9. Jesus asked the pharisees, the religious people: 

Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?”

See, and they never said a word. Now there was a man with a withered hand and Jesus wanted to heal his hand but the religious people said you mustn’t do any work on a Sabbath day, and that is when the Lord asked, “Is it right or wrong to do good on the Sabbath?” We must be very careful that we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Now, moms and dads, tell your children what that means. 

A few years back, two young women came into our church, and I must be honest with you, they were very skimpily dressed and very suggestively dressed, and there was a visitor that came from overseas. He was clearly a pharisee because after the service he came up to us and he said, ”How can you allow two women, so badly dressed, to come into the church?” and we looked at him and we said, ”But sir, we have never seen those women before. This is the first time they’ve ever come to church.” You see, folks, those two women were obviously seeking the Lord, and they decided to be brave and come to church to meet with Jesus, but if the pharisee had his way, he would have never allowed them in. How many times do we read in the bible that Jesus was eating with the tax collectors, the publicans, the prostitutes. Even the disciples didn’t come into those eating houses. “Lord, do you know who those people are?” 

“Yes, I know who they are. I came for the sick, not the healthy.” Be careful today, that we don’t swallow a camel and try and strain out a little mosquito, a gnat, out of our food. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye.