Lips or Life?

"'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
(Mark 7:6-8 NIV)

You have let go...of God and are holding on to...men.

That's my summation of this passage.

Read in context, Jesus is being questioned about his disciples' behavior: they didn't wash their hands.

But Jesus is more concerned about those doing the questioning: he calls these guys "hypocrites".



How are you and I tempted to hold onto men and let go of God?

The list is endless. Here are just a few that came to my mind as I poured over this passage:

- Family can become more important than our Heavenly Father

- Political parties can become more important than God's will

- Money can become more important than God's work (serving God & Mammon? Not possible.)

- Teachers, preachers and evangelists can become idols ("I follow Paul. I follow Apollos.")

- Being in control can become more important than laying down our lives

- We might prefer having our own way to denying ourselves

- Our priority my be protecting our feelings instead of allowing the Spirit to use difficult words to produce Christ within us

- We may like being talkative and right, rather than quiet and humble

- We may choose to carry grudges instead of taking up our cross

I challenge you today to ask the Spirit, "Where is my talk not matching my walk?"


Wait...

...listen...


...obey

May we honor God with our lips AND our life!

Grace & Peace