Mark 7

How's everyone doing? Not seeing a ton of comments flying around. Is everyone doing OK? Are you able to keep up or is the pace too fast? Hopefully having the weekend "off" so to speak helps you to catch up if you've fallen behind. Don't give up though! I know the Lord has something amazing to tell or show each one of you.

This Chapter has a lot to do with tradition. When I hear the word tradition I tend to think of the movie Fiddler on the Roof and can hear the man singing "Tradition!" We can get so trapped and wrapped up in tradition. Some traditions can be great... my husband and I have some wonderful traditions for Christmas time and other times of the year. Those are precious to me. But the traditions that are talked about here are actually destructive. The hand washing ceremony is more about the Pharisee thinking they are better than others than anything else. It had nothing to do with actually cleaning their hands. It was a ceremonial tradition to get rid of whatever defilement the Jews accidentally picked up from the Gentiles or Samaritans. They thought these people were "unclean."

Col. 2:8 warns us against man-made traditions. It says that we should keep the traditions handed down by God to his people. So what are some of those traditions? If we look at the life of Jesus was can see how he treated all people. He healed and spoke to whomever he was with. He did not discriminate.

Is man's tradition and not God's truth controlling any part of your life?

Corban is a gift devoted to God. This sounds good right? The problem was they were using this s a way to hold onto their "stuff" instead of letting it go. Once it was declared "corban" - they kept it until death. It couldn't even be passed on. It was a scam. How could it be a gift devoted to God if it couldn't be shared? I know there is so much "stuff" we hold on to sometimes. Silly things. Precious things. Heart warming things. But sometimes I wonder what the Lord thinks of our "stuff." Are we holding too tightly? Is there anything He wants me to let go of?

Hard questions. I pray that you hear from the Lord about anything you might be holding on to.