Wednesday Reading: Mark 7:1-7
Key Verse: Mark 7:7
7 However, they worship Me in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Devotion:
How often do you look at the things that are done around you and wonder who started doing that first? It is not only in everyday things but also in many churches and man seems bent on upholding the habits of his forbearers rather than the Word of God. There are many things that have their right place in our lives and many things that we should do to remember those before us and yet more things that are actually done better now than they were years ago – but what price do we pay when we leave God out of our conversation?
The Pharisees had upheld the strict rules that were originally written down for the children of Israel. These were rules written down because that is what those people needed at the time. The children of Israel needed a firm hand guiding them if they were going to make it through the wilderness. God wanted to stamp His authority because that is what they would have to adhere to for many years to come yet. Christ was coming so that we would no longer be totally constrained by the Law but rather that we would be able to live under grace. This does not mean that we can ignore the law but rather that we need to recognise that Christ alone is the way that we can have our sins forgiven us because He is the one who has paid for that sin debt.
The Pharisees were still caught up in the law and they had made that law more important than their relationship with God. They were standing on mans law ability rather than on the fact that God was the one who had given them those laws in the first place. They were sticking to the laws because that was the thing to do rather than sticking to the laws because God was their provider. We must not lose focus on that fact that God is at the centre of our lives and our world!
Points to Ponder:
Whose law do you follow?
Do you focus on God?
