June 23, 2018 MARK CHAPTER 7
It is easy to invent ways to please God. We get used to following God in a certain way and subtlety our ways become the focus and not God Himself. We should always obey out of the overflow of intimacy with God Himself.
Without this close connection, we will begin to come up with substitutes to "manufacture" a feeling of closeness to God. Tradition isn't wrong and can actually be a blessing, but when it becomes the priority we will be deceived like the Pharisees who had allowed tradition to become doctrines they believed to have divine authority though they were not found in the Scriptures.
Never let what you do, or have always done, become the focus of your journey with Jesus. Our relationship with Him is always based on who He is and what He has done and becoming who we already are in Him.
It's easy for us to point fingers at the Pharisees. But when we stop and think about our own hearts, sometimes we are just like them. We think that we're better than anyone else. We think that we've got it all under control, that we have it all together. But we don't. But we have blinded our eyes and thought that we did, and only God can let those eyes see again. It all starts with pride. Pride is like a weed in a garden. If you don't pull it out, it grows bigger and bigger and bigger until you can't pull it out anymore. That's how it was with the Pharisees, and so many times, that's how it is with us. Pride is something that I know I struggle with. Sometimes I think I'm a better person than someone else. But I'm not! I'm not at all! And I need God to pull out that weed that I've had in my heart, because I am not strong enough to get it out myself! So we have to be careful and not let those weeds grow
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