Mark 7:5-9 (NIV)
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"
6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
It is easy for our own thoughts and ways to become added to the Word of God. In the garden story, Eve adds to God’s command not to eat of a certain tree. She told the serpent that they were forbidden to touch it, which was not what God said. As the discussion continued, she was drawn away by words that appealed to her, but which took her focus from God to self. The result is a fallen world.
Jesus speaks harshly to these leaders of a faith that has been diluted and made useless. They have so embraced and elevated the words of man that they obscure the Word of God. They have traded the Holy for the mundane. The result is worship in vain.
The question for us is what are we holding on to? Are we holding hands with things of man and the world? Spending time in His Word will allow for closer walk with Him. The result will be a heart closer to God. That is one tradition worthy of keeping.
May God richly bless you
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