Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our Reading titled Rejecting Rationalization was written by Tim Gustafson.

An Atlanta police officer asked a driver if she knew why he had stopped her.

No idea, she said in bewilderment.

Ma'am, you were texting while driving, the officer gently told her. No, no, she protested,

holding up her cell phone as evidence. It's an email. Using a cell phone to send an email

doesn't grant us a loophole from a law that prohibits texting while driving.

The point of the law isn't to prevent texting, it's to prevent distracted driving.

Jesus accused the religious leaders of his day of creating far worse loopholes,

saying in Mark Chapter 7,

you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God. He said quoting the command

to honor your father and mother as evidence. Under the hypocritical cloak of religious devotion,

these wealthy leaders were neglecting their families. They simply declared their money as devoted to God,

and voila, no need to help mom and dad in their old age.

Jesus quickly got to the heart of the problem. You nullify the word of God by your tradition,

he said. They weren't honoring God, they were dishonoring their parents.

Rationalization can be so subtle. With it, we avoid responsibilities, explain away selfish behavior, and reject God's direct commands.

If that describes our behavior, we're merely deceiving ourselves.

Jesus offers us the opportunity to exchange our selfish tendencies

for the guidance of the spirit

behind his father's good instructions.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Mark chapter 7, verses 6 through 13.

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