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Conduct And Character


For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20)

          “Yeah, Jesus… You tell’em!” I think that’s a response we often have to this passage. “How dare those nasty self-righteous prigs judge me and tell me what I’m doing is wrong!” Uh oh. We all know that there was a problem with the righteousness of the Pharisees, but what was it? They not only worked hard to do everything right, but they made sure that anyone who didn’t was treated accordingly. We hear of this sort of behavior regularly in our society, from people from both inside and outside the Church. The problem, we are told, is that the Pharisees set up rules about righteous and unrighteous behavior, and imposed those rules on others rather than on themselves. If your behavior was righteous enough, if you belonged to the right groups and had the right sort of job, the Pharisees loved you. If you didn’t, they didn’t. We tend to be quite sure of our judgment of them as not being among the righteous. Uh oh.
          What was their problem, really? I think the answer is in what Mr. Bounds discussed in my reading in The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer. Todays’ chapter is called “Prayer and Character and Conduct” As he described it, conduct is what we do, character is what we are. The Pharisees were meticulous about doing what they were supposed to do, because they were supposed to do it, and in telling others to do what they’re supposed to do because they’re supposed to do it. 
          I’ve been this sort of Pharisee. One instance I recall particularly was a day when I took a treat to work, either some homemade bread or some penuche. I saw a coworker whom I believe to be a liar and a cheat walk through the store. I didn’t want to tell him about the treat, but I knew not telling him was the wrong thing to do. I did the right thing. I demonstrated the right conduct, but it was something I did, not something that flowed from me as naturally as breath. This is the difference between conduct and character, the difference between choosing to do (or not to do) and simply doing (or not doing) because it would take focus and attention to interrupt the doing (or not doing). 
          According to Mr. Bounds, prayer changes us and changes conduct into character, and so my prayer must be:
Lord, teach me to pray in such a way that my character looks more like Yours.

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