You have heard it said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hellfire.   Matthew 5:21-22 NKJV

In the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew chapters 5-7, Jesus encouraged people to understand that outward obedience was not enough. We must inwardly obey as well. It starts in the heart.

We all know that if we murder someone, we have broken the law. But Jesus is telling us here that we have broken God’s law by being angry with someone or calling someone a fool. The term Raca means empty-headed. It’s one thing to avoid murdering someone because you are angry with them, but God sees and judges the heart. Jesus is telling us here that it’s what’s in our hearts that really matters.

He goes on in Matthew 5:27-28 to set the same standard for adultery. He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’

We must train our hearts and our minds to be obedient to Christ. We are told in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. When you find yourself having inappropriate thoughts, pray. Ask God to forgive you for these thoughts and help to remove them from you. If you find yourself angry and bitter over something your enemy has done, pray for God to remove those things from your heart. I have done this, and it has actually given me a heart of compassion for that person. In several cases, God has dealt harshly with this person, and I have actually found myself feeling bad for them.

When people sin against God’s children, they are actually sinning against God, and He will deal with them. That’s not our job. It’s our job to love them and pray for them. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:33-34 to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He goes on to say we are to bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us.

Jesus tells us to do those things so that we may be sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. We are not all God’s children, as many people like to believe. We must choose to surrender to His will to be His child.

This starts in the heart. A heart filled with hate will never please God. We must take our thoughts captive to obey Jesus, heart, soul, and mind. Is your heart obedient to Christ? Outward obedience isn’t enough.

I mentioned that when our thoughts go where they shouldn’t, we should pray. And we all know that from time to time our thoughts are going to go to those places they have no place being. We are not perfect, and we will not be perfect until we get to heaven with our heavenly Father. As long as we are here on earth, we must rely on Jesus. We will always be a work in progress; a sinner in need of a Savior.

Surrender yourself to Christ. Love Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Trust in Him to guide us as we go through each day. Philippians 2:8 tells us that Jesus humbled Himself to be obedient, even to death on a cross.

Are you willing to humble yourself to Him? Are you willing to obey Him with all your heart and all your mind? God doesn’t want our outward, half-hearted obedience; He wants complete submission. Surrender your life to Him today.

Have a great day!