DAILY DEVOTIONAL TODAY - July 28, 2023 || Our Daily Bread [Daily Devotion] | MamClaireTV

Devotional Message:
(Mark 7:7-8)
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions."

Jesus says that the word of God takes priority over all our traditions (Verse 8). There is nothing wrong with tradition.

Traditions can be very important and valuable. However, tradition should never take precedence over God's Word. Jesus attacks the Pharisees for using tradition to avoid obeying the word of God: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!" (Verse 9).

For example, supporting those who are oppressed can sometimes feel inconvenient. It can be tempting to find excuses why we should not need to do so.

The Pharisees said it was permissible not to support widows, orphans, and even your parents financially if you had given the money as a gift to God (Verse 11). Jesus said that in doing this they were disobeying the command to honor your father and mother (Verse 10).

Therefore, He says you actually contradict God's word by your traditions and the traditions you have not questioned, but been handed down.

Ultimately, the Pharisees honored God by what they did outwardly (Verses 1-5). It is relatively easy to do the right things or even say the right things. We can obey all the rules of the community and yet our hearts can be far away from God (Verses 6-8). God is not so concerned about the outward appearance but about the heart.

Jesus later goes on to say in this passage that it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come, and that all these evils come from inside and defile a person. These are the things that pollute our lives and spoil our relationship with God.

Jesus says the solution is to listen to Him (Verse 14). This