“1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders, 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash, and there are also many other traditions that they observe: the washing of cups and pots and bronze kettles and beds.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.
8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.
9 Then He said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the
commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!’”
Friends, I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been convicted by how I am too often similar to the Pharisees. In this story from Mark above the Pharisees challenge Jesus regarding His disciples who do not follow every religious law.
“The Lord said:‘Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote’” Isaiah 29:13.
We all have to be careful that we don’t “talk” the right way about Jesus Christ, but we back what comes from our lips with what our choices and behavior when no one else is watching. Today we all need to pray that our hearts are not a long way off from Jesus, and that we dismiss some of His commandments as though we can pick and choose. And we have to make sure we don’t hide inside our denominations as one who worships our human commandments rather than God’s commandments.
So take this to prayer today and repent and ask God to bring us back to Him. Ask the Lord to heal you of your habits that worship Him by rote, not by heart.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” Romans 12:1.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” James 4:8.
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” John 4:23.
“In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’”
Matthew 15:9.
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