It's Me Again God 2

101. Matters of the Heart

It's me again God,

Thank You for the joy of beautiful melodies which linger in my mind long after I have worshipped on Sundays. Thank You for the love that is evident amongst Your family as we gather together to hear Your Word. Thank You for the miracles that we see as lives are changed and we increasingly become more like You! Thank You that we see Jesus at work amongst us, teaching and guiding as Your Spirit leads.

Lord it's wonderful to set aside time for You on Sundays but I pray that You would be evident in my everyday life —that this love for You would flow on through the week and pour out of me at all times. I'm so thankful that being Your very own child is not about looking good on Sundays or just observing religious traditions:

"The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. ) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?" He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions." And he continued, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them."

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: "What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.""
‭‭Mark‬ ‭7:1-15, 17-23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It's surprising how easily people can be fooled into thinking that being a Christian is about following a list of rules and traditions. Jesus made it clear that eating or not eating certain foods, did not make a person unclean or clean —it is all about what is in a person's heart.

Thank You for sending Your Son to die so my heart could be free from sin. I could not be perfect in and of myself but by accepting Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, that list of evil things is no longer a part of me! I am free from the law of sin and death —I am righteous in Your sight!

Thank You Jesus,
Amen.