THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:1-8
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Mark 7:6)
Jesus is challenging religion as the mere observing of rules and rituals.
Rules are made for relationships, not relationships for rules.
For a person to establish practices to help build a relationship is fine.
But those practices should not be imposed on everyone as rules.
I can fast to strengthen my relationship with God.
I can choose to wash my hands to symbolize God’s forgiving grace.
But I should not demand that others do the same, as a religious rule.
The religious leaders had forgot this personal relationship.
For them it was about keeping the traditions, not actually meaning them.
God knows if our religious practices come from the heart, or are empty rituals.
If we go to church, read the bible, tithe, pray before meals or dress up for church.
These are human practices that can be helpful, but not laws.
Jesus makes it clear that God wants our heart, our love, our willing obedience.
As a Jesus follower, may my faith life reflect what really lives in my heart.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You see my heart, whether hat I do is real or just empty ritual. Help me to use disciplines to draw me closer to You, to loving and obeying You!
Traditions.
Remember when . . . major stores had curtains on their display windows so you couldn’t even window browse on Sondays?
. . . you couldn’t watch TV on Sondays
. . . no driving a bicycle on Sondays nor going to the beach
. . . an the list goes on and on.
Tradition. Man made rules for observing our relationship with God. But the outward appearance does not necessarily equal the heart matter. Just as the passage says, lips service but their hearts are far from me.
The Lord requires heart service following His Way and mot man’s way/traditions.
Wholehearted commitment to following Him.
What is on the inside must be displayed on the outside that I belong to Him. Life is only LIFE in HIM.
Purify my heart,
Let me be as gold and precious silver.
Purify my heart,
Let me be as gold, pure gold.
(Chorus)
Refiner’s fire,
My heart’s one desire
Is to be… holy;
Set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be… holy;
Set apart for You, my Master,
Ready to do Your will.
Purify my heart,
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy.
Purify my heart,
Cleanse me from my sin, deep within.