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Following the recipe is our challenge,

Could not agree more with you.

“The Sermon on the Mount is my religion.”
“It is?” I said, “Let’s shake hands. I congratulate you—you’ve got a wonderful religion! By the way, how are you doing with it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said that the Sermon on the Mount is your religion. Are you living by it?”
“Well, I try.”
“That’s not quite it. The Lord said that you are blessed if you do those things, not if you vote for them. Are you keeping it?”
“I think I am.”
“Do you mind if we take a little test?”
“All right.”
“The Sermon on the Mount says that if you are angry with your brother you are guilty of murder. Are you keeping that one?”
“Well, that’s pretty strong, but I don’t think I have been angry enough to kill anyone.”
Then I quoted the one the Lord gave on adultery: “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (v. 28), and asked him, “how about that one?”
“Oh, I guess that would get me!”
“Well, I imagine that there are several things in the Sermon on the Mount that would get you. Apparently you are not living by your religion. If I were you, I’d change my religion and get something that works.”
Oh, how many people there are like that man! They very piously say that the Sermon on the Mount is their religion, but all they mean is that they think it is a good document and a very fine expression, but it doesn’t affect them one whit. I found out later that the man I was talking with had two wives—one at home and one at his office. My friend, if the Sermon on the Mount is your religion, you had better make sure you are keeping it. It is loaded with law. But if you will look at the Sermon on the Mount honestly, it will bring you to a Savior who died for you on the cross. The Sermon on the Mount sets before us great principles and high goals. We need to know them, but they reveal how far we come short.

BigMack