BUGS BUT NOT CAMELS

There is a human tendency, a dangerous leaning toward straining out bugs and swallowing camels. Jesus rebuked the religious teachers of his day for this very thing. He rebuked them for being so meticulous about keeping certain small religious laws but failing to focus on things of real significance. "You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." Matthew 23:24
I think all of us, even when we revel in the grace and freedom we've found in Jesus, are very careful about certain things that we have deemed as wrong (whether grounded in Scripture or not). Yet we may too easily fail in our commitment to some of the things that are most important in God's sight. We are being very careful about the bugs but may totally miss the camels.
One of the most glaring examples of this is found in the conduct of the Jewish leaders after they arrest Jesus. They are about to falsely accuse and demand the execution of the One who has demonstrated, who has claimed and by crowds, been acclaimed that He is indeed the long promised Messiah; the One sent by God. (How large can a camel get?)
Yet as they pursue His death, they are meticulous about what? They don't want to improperly use the money they paid Judas to betray Jesus, lest they break the law! (27:6) And they don't want to enter the pagan, unclean palace because they wish to be ceremonially clean (after making sure that Jesus dies on a cross) when they eat the Passover that night! (John 18:28) The contrast, the terrible inconsistency of straining out religious gnats and swallowing a camel has surely never been so glaring.
No sin is too small to avoid; no part of righteousness too small to act upon. Yet God, please help us, as we seek to follow Christ, to major on majors; to be careful to pursue the things most important to you: things like justice, mercy and faithfulness. (Matthew 23:23)