THE STORY OF JESUS: Mark 7:6-8
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.'” (Mark 7:8, quoting Isaiah 29:13)
God is not impressed by our outward behaviours when they do not reflect inward truth.
Jesus comes to release us from religion, to restore us to relationship.
To love God with our whole being, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.
If we do this sincerely, then everything else we do will have meaning too.
How many people who go to church, or claim to be ‘christian’, actually love God, or people?
How many who claim to follow Jesus actually devote themselves to living with, like and for Him?
How many church wars are more about promoting our religion, protecting our comfort zone?
I have been through church wars, and the people involved in many ways are ‘good’ people.
We would vehemently deny we were just honouring God with our lips, not our hearts.
But so would the religious leaders of Jesus day…
Which should give us all pause to think carefully about our religious words and actions.
There has always been a danger of heartless religion, and we are no exception.
The test is love; is our religious activity characterized by humility, compassion, mercy, patience?
Do we focus on other’s failures more than our own?
God knows our hearts better than we do, He sees through our words and actions to our motives.
Spend time today asking Him if your heart is in your words.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, my heart is weak, and I have moments when I am hot, and cold, and lukewarm. Help me not to judge others when I have plenty to work on in myself.