A young coed being interviewed on television about her religious beliefs said, "Oh yes, I believe in God, but I'm not nuts about Him." According to the Gallup Poll that is a good description of how most Americans feel about God. Ninety-four percent of us believe in God. When it comes to translating that belief into action, however, most of us are clearly not nuts about Him.

We have something in common with the Pharisees. Jesus once summed up the Pharisees chief problem like this: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

For the Pharisees religion was primarily external. It was a badge of accomplishment, not a gift of grace. It was a means of dividing society into layers, not uniting it in love. It was a means of putting other people down, rather than a m…