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Mark 7:5-8
In Mark 7:5-8 (NKJV) the Pharisees and scribes brought their accusations to Jesus and asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” The Pharisees and scribes – the religious leaders of the day – actually asked Jesus – God in human form – why He did not comply with their religious man-made rules and regulations. The Bible teaches us in Isaiah 45:9,
“Woe to him who strives with his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the
potsherds of the earth!
Shall the clay say to him who forms it,
‘What are you making?’
Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has
no hands’?”
In Jesus’ answer to them He quotes Isaiah 29:13,
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.’
Jesus then states, “8For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men – the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do” (Mark 7:8).
This is an example of the blindness of man that the devil blinds us with to keep us from seeing the heart of the matter with God; it is not our traditions that get us to heaven but the sincerity of our hearts to God in obedience and submission to Him – to accept that we have fallen, and that it is only Jesus that can help us up.
This may be the biggest, at least one of the biggest things that keeps us from submitting our lives to God in Christ Jesus: We want God to abide by our rules instead of us submitting in humble obedience our lives and our ways to God and His ways. Folks, news flash – we don’t make the rules, God does. If we insist that God abide by our rules, then we are saying to God, “I know more about this than You do, so You need to listen to how ‘I’ want to do things.” That’s what Lucifer said to God just before the beginning of time (Isaiah 14:12-15). He is spending eternity in hell, and that’s where he is striving to convince you to accompany him through the ways of this world – as long as he can convince you to continue to tell God how He needs to abide by your rules. Submit your life to God today through His gift of salvation in Christ Jesus, and live for eternity in heaven, in the peace and joy of our Lord.
Dear LORD,
I believe this to be the big kicker in the lives of man and the control that the devil has over us, as I too was reluctant for some thirty years before it sunk in to me that it is not my rules of how I need You to work in my life, but that I needed to submit my rules and my life to You; to Your will and Your ways for me and the life that You want me to live over and above what I may think and desire of myself; that I give up my desires for life and begin seeking Your desires for my life. I pray today dear LORD that You give understanding and realization to everyone who reads or listens to this message the capacity to give up their will, that is only the leading of the devil in this world, to open submission to seeking Your will for their lives and truly have a change of heart to follow You – in Christ! In Jesus name I pray, amen.