Today’s scripture: Mark 7:1-13 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (E’sha Cooper):
Pastor Jeff has done some sermons that touch on Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages, and I am currently rereading it since I really want to enhance my relationships with others. If I could sum the book up in a sentence, I would say it is about learning to love others as they understand love.
For example, if a person thinks that love means spending quality time together, then to express your love to that person you must spend quality time. If you were to go out and buy them even the most beautiful and expensive piece of jewelry they would still not experience the fullness of love you wish to express. Chapman calls this “filling someone’s love tank”. And because you love that person, you do those things so that they can know and feel your love for them.
Maybe the same is true with God. I think that today’s lesson is essentially about filling God’s love tank.
Here The Master is chastising the Pharisees for establishing their own rules and doing things that were “good,” but not as God had instructed, thus ungodly. The Pharisees were so hellbent on their traditions that the commandments of God were nothing more than secondary thoughts. That’s why they found such offense at what The Master was bringing to their attention. He was interrupting their flow. How dare He?
Let’s touch home with an example. Christmas is a tradition that we who follow Christ celebrate as His birth and a sign of our redemption. But how many of us overindulge in gift giving, and then spend six months of the next year paying off credit cards? The Word instructs us that “we are to lend to many and borrow from none” (Deuteronomy 28:12). We’re also told “let him who giveth do it with simplicity” (Romans 12:8).
Although it is “good” to bless others, are lavish gifts what God has instructed? Do you really think God feels loved when you get yourself in bondage to debt? Is this just another distraction that keeps us from spending time with God, or keeps us from using our resources as God has instructed?
Thought for the day: Am I loving God or just doing “good”?
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.