Devotion 
Is it enough to be religious?
David Jacobs 

It's interesting to see in the Bible that Jesus offended the religious but did not offend sinners. As we are called to be like Christ, this means that it is not our purpose as Christians to go around calling out sinners, but it is our place to call out the religious when they are not in line with the will of God.

Religious leaders often fall into the same traps that Jesus called out the religious leaders in his time for. The leaders had become overly ritualistic, abandoning the loving ways that God had called for in favor of the rituals that comforted them. But true religion - the way of Christ that we are called to live

• is not based on rigid rituals, but on adaptable and flexible love.

We are meant to be soldiers for God, but we have to be careful who we fight as soldiers. Those who fight against sinners are not following in the way Jesus. The bold soldiers are the ones who fight against bad religion, constantly perfecting God's church in the process.

Prayer 

Father in Heaven, grant us the courage to fight when your church becomes like the Pharisees were in time of your Son, and fill us with love so that we will be more like Him, Amen.