Mark 7:1-23
Dear RTB’ers,
Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29:13, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. (v. 7) Putting myself into this “story” (this Isaiah verse), I split the verse in half at the semicolon and declared myself guilty in the first half and (hopefully) (mostly?) innocent of the second half.
As for the first half: all too often, my “worship” is rote activity, while my mind is far off somewhere else. I “awaken” in the middle of our Sunday services and wonder how my mind got so diverted away from where we were in the service or what the preacher was saying. And if you ask me about my faith, I can provide you with the right answers. Unfortunately, my long daylight hours have too little time with the Lord – my heart is too far from Him. As to the first half of Isaiah’s verse – guilty.
As for the second half: I consider myself fortunate to be part of St. Andrew’s and the Anglican Church in North America. From the time of our separation from the Episcopal Church, I have honored our ACNA and ADOTS leaders for holding to traditional, historical Biblical standards and teachings, while leaders and congregants in many other denominations have embraced society’s standards – in particular, their support for abortion, same-sex and trans-gender issues, in my mind, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Often I wonder if I am (or we are) out of line with Jesus’ teachings, knowing how He castigated the Pharisees and scribes for their teachings and behaviors. What would He say to me (to us)? I wonder…
Blessings!
See also: March 16 / Mark 7:1-23