In this daily Bible reading is Jesus’ ‘sermon on the mount.’ Jesus left the crowds and went up on the mountain near Capernaum to speak to His disciples. The message of this sermon was that those who turn away from the world’s values to God’s values will be blessed. For example, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” The world doesn’t hunger or thirst for righteousness. Quite the opposite, the world hungers and thirsts for sin.
Jesus also told his disciples that they are the ‘salt of the earth’ and that they are ‘light.’ Jesus said that they should not live isolated from the world. Rather, they should be a positive influence on the world. The disciples had the light of God’s Truth, Jesus. They were to shine this light before others. They were also to ‘season’ the world with the ‘salt’ of God’s Truth.
In His sermon, Jesus also indicated that the religious leaders of the day, the Scribes and Pharisees, were not righteous. They were religious, but they were not righteous. So it is with religion today. Religion is not necessarily righteousness. Religion provides many rules and regulations but does not necessarily lead people to God. I am offended if people say that I am religious. I am not. Rather, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
