"He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Mark 7:6-7
This is a good warning against self-justification. We often interpret the Lord's commandments to suit ourselves, carving out some exception for our own benefit or thinking that surely God makes an exception in our case. I'm not saying that exceptions don't exist; only that claiming exceptions to God's laws for ourselves is a hugely arrogant thing to do, and it would probably be better to always assume that we are part of the rule and let God tell us that we are in a circumstance where an exception needs to be made rather than ever assuming that we are an exception.
The exception used in this chapter is an example from the Law of Moses, and it was a loophole for getting around certain financial obligations to parents, thus trying to get around the commandment to honor our parents. Today, let's remember that we should never treat God's law like we treat tax law--looking for every loophole and exception that we can find, so we can do and pay less. Instead, with God, we should be looking for ways to improve our obedience rather than avoiding it. We aren't going to be perfect in obedience anytime soon, but we can work on being better than we were last week, or maybe even better than we have ever been. :)
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Mark 7:6-7
This is a good warning against self-justification. We often interpret the Lord's commandments to suit ourselves, carving out some exception for our own benefit or thinking that surely God makes an exception in our case. I'm not saying that exceptions don't exist; only that claiming exceptions to God's laws for ourselves is a hugely arrogant thing to do, and it would probably be better to always assume that we are part of the rule and let God tell us that we are in a circumstance where an exception needs to be made rather than ever assuming that we are an exception.
The exception used in this chapter is an example from the Law of Moses, and it was a loophole for getting around certain financial obligations to parents, thus trying to get around the commandment to honor our parents. Today, let's remember that we should never treat God's law like we treat tax law--looking for every loophole and exception that we can find, so we can do and pay less. Instead, with God, we should be looking for ways to improve our obedience rather than avoiding it. We aren't going to be perfect in obedience anytime soon, but we can work on being better than we were last week, or maybe even better than we have ever been. :)
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