Reflections: Looking back on 25 years of columns

It’s been 25 years since I wrote my first Reflections column for the Daily Commercial.

During that time you saw my two girls grow up. Today Becca is 39 and Emily is 36. You were also there as my wife and I celebrated 41 years of marriage. But Nancy was sick during the last 11 years and died in 2017.

And I poured out my heart to you.

You sent me letters and emails and offered up many prayers. And I’m not sure if I could have done it without you.

Reflections has been a very important part of my writing as a journalist. And my writing in general. And so it is with a tearful heart that I write my final Reflections’ column for the Daily Commercial.

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Times have been tough for many businesses, and newspapers in general. Changes have been made and will continue to be made. The Saturday edition of the paper is now available online, with no printed copy.

I think it is a good time to retire Reflections, though it is extremely hard for me. I will continue to write and may even still pen Reflections, just for me. I always wrote Reflections for me, first.

I’m sure that I didn’t always do what it said. But I tried.

And that’s what’s so good about God. He wants us to strive for perfection, but He knows only Jesus is perfect.

During my years of writing Reflections I delved into some topics more often. And I think legalism ranked up at or near the top of my list.

I think it was up on the top of Jesus’ list too.

And it was usually about the Pharisees and Sadducees keepers of the law.

Jesus dealt with them in Matthew 5:20. He said, “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.”

That shocked everyone, the Pharisees, and the regular folks. The Pharisees were so upset that in Matthew 12 they were plotting how they might kill Jesus.

Here everyone thought the Pharisees were a sure lock for Heaven. But if the Pharisees didn’t get into Heaven, what chance did normal folks have?

Do you feel that way today? Do you feel the pastors and preachers and priests and ministers are a sure lock to enter Heaven?

I’m not comparing pastors and preachers, priests, and ministers to the Pharisees. I know there were Pharisees that made it into Heaven. And I’ve known many godly pastors and preachers, priests and ministers.

But this is what Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

He continued, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?”

On and on in Matthew 23, Jesus took the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law to task.

In verse 28 He said, “In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Jesus said they were like dead men’s bones.

The Pharisees countered by saying to the disciples that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.

When Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

There are a few things that I know.

One, if you think you are righteous you probably aren’t.

And two, if you don’t think you are a sinner, think again.

Jesus didn’t come for the righteous, He came for us sinners.

I try not to sin but when I do, Jesus is still there for me. And you.

As I conclude with Reflections, please know how much you have meant to me. And my family.

I still crave your prayers. I’m getting married on June 18 to my very first girlfriend. I’m sure she would love that you pray for me too.

Rick Reed was a columnist for The Daily Commercial. To reach Rick, e-mail him at ricoh007@aol.com. You can also read his blog, when I start writing it again, at rickreed.co.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Reflections: Columnist bids farewell to weekly article after 25 years