Saturday, July 10, 2010

Morning reading

Matthew 15:1-20 (TNIV) -

1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"

3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is 'devoted to God,' 6 they are not to 'honor their father or mother' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

8 " 'These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

9 They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.' "

10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. 11 What goes into your mouth does not defile you, but what comes out of your mouth, that is what defiles you."

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"

13 He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."

15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."

16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these defile you. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile you; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile you."

My thoughts -

It's much easier for us to see things in others that we don't like than it is for us to examine our own behavior and traditions to see how they affect others and how they adhere to God's will. The Pharisees complained to Jesus about his disciples and wow did they ever get a verbal smack down.

Our hearts are not always clean. Our motives are not always pure. We all have our own agendas and we like to win. We need Jesus to help us examine and purify our hearts.

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