What am I justifying in my life that God may detest?

14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts.  What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”

INSIGHT:   Jesus had just shared the parable of the shrewd manager and instructed his listeners to be wise enough to be generous with their money, so that they would be welcomed and rewarded in heaven.  They wanted nothing to do with that because they loved money.

I can’t fully explain how disgusting it is for me to think back and see all the ways I justified my love for money, while I was still a counterfeit “Christian”.  I was so good at justifying it that if someone would have pointed it out to me, I would have remained in denial about it.  Like Jesus warned in Mat 6:23, the counterfeit “light” within me was darkness because my eyes were bad, and I couldn’t see it until I abandoned my false faith in Christ, made a full surrender to Him, whereupon He opened my eyes.  I too was once blind, but now I see!

From heaven’s perspective, money was my first god because I believed that everything would work out just fine when I finally had enough money.  I justified the aggressive pursuit of money by telling myself that once I had a lot, it would give me credibility to publicly talk about God.  What shameful, ignorant, and evil thinking that was! That was me essentially saying that God’s value, in the eyes of other people, rises or falls with my income level.  That possibly puts me in the same category of people as Simon the Sorcerer, who thought he could buy the power of the Holy Spirit with money (Acts 8:9-25), or the false prosperity teachers who think that godliness is a means to financial gain (1 Tim 6:5). 

After a season of major financial crisis, I had been waiting in faith for God to bring restoration.  One day, I was sitting on the porch inquiring of God, when suddenly, I heard these words.  “I am primarily in the heart restoration business, not the checkbook restoration business.”  WOW!  My thinking had been so different than God’s.  He was seeing that area of my life so differently than I was seeing it.  Oh, how I thank Him for his mercy towards my ignorance.  He knew I loved the truth and would accept it when I finally heard it.

This is one of the most important aspects of your life.  You must be able to increasingly see your life, your faith, your money, your friends, your traditions, your choices, your decisions and your actions, the way God sees them!

My whole life I celebrated Christmas.  Then, while living in India in 2016, God fully opened my eyes to its pagan, not Christian, roots. I had already wondered if I might be holding on to a human tradition that men highly valued, but God found detestable, since there was no mandate in Scripture to celebrate the birth of Jesus?  I did the research and found the Puritans called Christmas “Foolstide” and made it illegal to celebrate in America from 1659 - 1681.  There were many videos on YouTube justifying Christmas, despite its known pagan roots, saying it was ok because we don’t use the pagan tradition to worship the pagan gods anymore.  But I knew from studying the Bible that God never allowed the Israelites to re-purpose any of the pagan altars or high places to worship Him, but instead demanded they destroy them all.  I was convicted to make the costly sacrifice and no longer try to justify myself, regardless of how much others loved it and justified it.  It became an issue of conscience for me.

Money isn’t the only area where we justify ungodly attitudes and actions.  What about in your relationships, work, family, traditions, entertainment choices, time wasted, words that come out of your mouth, or your attitude, etc.?  I want to challenge you to become more bride worthy. Ask God to show you anything you are justifying, which He finds detestable.  When He shows you, act in faith on it and have the courage to suffer the personal discomfort and the persecution which may come your way.  He will commend you for doing so and give you more grace.