What In Life Do You Cling Onto...Instead Of Following What God Has Said and Commanded?

Mark 7:1-5 New International Version

That Which Defiles 7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 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.[a]) 5 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?”

Monday - August 30

The Bible describes cultures and people that were quite different from us. But those differences are usually only on the surface. Over the years before Jesus was born, the Jewish religious leaders developed “extra” rules that they added to God’s Law (given to Moses). One of those extra rules had to do with washing hands after being in the marketplace and before eating. It was a spiritual, not cleanliness issue. Yet, we do this all the time. We care more about our traditions than what God ACTUALLY said. For example, at church we might often say or hear “we have always done it this way.” What traditions or “extra” rules, in you life or at church, do you cling to instead of what God has said and commanded?