I was just working on answering some questions for school when I ran across a scary and convicting passage of Scripture in Mark. It's Mark 7:6-8.
And he [Jesus] said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, But their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men. (ASV)
He was speaking to the Pharisees—a group that had totally gotten lost in a system of rules and legalistic practices. They found their identity in their rules rather than in God. In the CEV, the last part of verse six reads: "...All of you praise me with your words, but you never really think about me." These people had rules, standards, and guidelines. They had them to such an extent that they had gone far beyond what God's Law demanded. They were no longer Scripturally based. There was no relationship with God by which they received guidance on how to live their daily lives. It was just a legalistic following of a system of rules and regulations.
God help us, as 20th century Christians, that we would not praise God with our words and never give an actual thought to Him; that we would not try to live the life without the relationship; that we would first think about God and then live lives that bring praise to Him.
God help me, as a young person, that my teaching and my influence on other people would reflect the precepts of God. May I never teach as truth my own ideas. May I search the Scriptures and relate truth as God reveals it to me through His Word. May I have a part in ensuring that tradition never takes precedence over the commands of God. May tradition be sifted through the Word of God and weighed for relevance and truth. May I never be so hard-headed as to think my way is the only way; for only one way is the only way, and that is God's Way.
