SCRIPTURE: Matthew (NIV) 15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ 6 he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus, you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
OBSERVATION: In these verses Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders about the way they twisted the commands. They talked like they had it all together when it came to spiritual things, but the most important part to God—their heart—was far from what it should be.
I hear him saying their worship was useless to God and useless to themselves. Their teaching should have come from their personal relationship with God, but instead they just mouthed what someone else had said.
APPLICATION: It is good to learn from others, but I must personally hear God speaking to me. And when He does use people to speak to me, the Holy Spirit confirms in my spirit that the message is from God. That happens more often when I honor God with my lips AND with my heart.
The personal relationship that God desires is for us to accept Jesus offer of forgiveness (made possible by His sinless life and death on the cross) and to make Jesus the Lord of our lives. We invite Him to live in our lives, not as a guest, but as a permanent, honored resident, as the LORD of our lives.
PRAYER: Lord, as a child, I used to sing: “Into my heart, come into my heart, come into my heart Lord Jesus. Come in today, come in to stay; come into my heart Lord Jesus.” Amen.
Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!
On Facebook: Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
SOAPs by Pastor Leon 