“The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? – Luke 13: 15-16(KJV)
One major defect of religious bigotry is that it breeds hypocrisy. Most times those who practice bigotry don’t examine their own actions as they hold tenaciously to man ordained rules. In today’s reading, the Lord confronted the bigot priest with real facts which completely contradicted his position. The result was shame and humiliation. Even in Pentecostal churches we have people who are bigots, who want to subject everyone to their acceptable way of doing things, such as how to dress, dance etc. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit when dealing with bigot hypocrites. They know the bible very well but skewed the interpretation to suit their stand, so you require the wisdom of God to handle them, that is why the bible says in Luke 21:15(KJV) “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist”. Religious bigotry can be very difficult to contend with because they are mostly fault finders. We need to purge ourselves of religious bigotry and ask the Lord to fill us with His Spirit of Love.
Prayer: Father release upon me the spirit of love so that I can concentrate on the good side of my brethren. In Jesus Name
Bro. Joel Ezeugo