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Mark 7:1-13 - Traditions and Commandments

The Pharisees question Jesus over the breaking of one of their traditions.

Jesus replies them with a prophecy of Isaiah - that people honor God with their lips, but not with their hearts, and they abandon the commandments of God for the tradition of men.

He accuses them of replacing God's commandments as human tradition, and letting it be so.

We've been guilty too. Have we slipped into tradition? The monthly observance of the Lord's Supper merely being a moment for us to consider a little harder on our actions for the past week? Or have we really performed this ordinance in remembrance of Christ, and proclaiming His death until He returns?

 Our all-so-standard prayers before meals - tradition or true thanksgiving?

Where it is not wrong to have habits and traditions - we have to keep in mind - what's important is not the action itself - it's the motive. We don't do things to please man, or to just "go with the flow". We do it because of God's love for us, and our love for God.
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