# 649 Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 12:38-40 “Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, "the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, "who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation."
The Holy Spirit reminds us here through the words of Mark that this is an important teaching of Christ. We ought to pay special attention to it.
He starts out with “Beware!” The word means “be looking away from them,” in other word turn your backs on them, leave them. What a great strategy! These scribes, or professional interpreters of Scripture, can be likened to anyone who serves in the gospel arena solely for pay or benefit.
When we spot “flock fleecers” and refuse to have anything to do with them they have no fuel for their raging fire of self-satisfaction. These men and women are not just hypocrites...they are “rip o crites” as they seek to rip people off through the means of flowery Christian speech and weighty sounding prayers.
Mass communication has enabled these ripocrites to thrive in our day and age, so heed the words of Jesus and “beware” of them brothers and sisters!
And beware professional gospel workers, lest your motivation for serving Christ becomes skewered and you fall into the trap of Balaam. For if you do, your raging fire of self-satisfaction will be fed to the raging fires of hell.
Jude 1:11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
Father, guard our hearts from this sin of self-gratification. Let all our gratification come from Christ..
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