Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Mark chapter 7, verse 8, you leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

This is a stinging indictment from Jesus in Mark chapter 7 as he's speaking to Pharisees and scribes

who've come to Jerusalem. And those Pharisees and scribes who've come to Jerusalem.

And those Pharisees and scribes, these religious leaders, were known for, watch this,

strict adherence to traditions that they and those who had gone before them had developed.

And right before this verse, when Jesus says, you leave the

commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men, Jesus says to them, Isaiah talked about you,

hypocrites. When he said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

And they worship me in vain because they teach as doctrines the commandments of men.

I just want to encourage us to think in our lives today, what traditions do we hold to?

What commandments do we follow that don't actually come from God, but they're just things we do

because we and those who have gone before us have decided we should do these things.

It's a helpful and humbling exercise to ask and answer that question.

Maybe even right after this podcast episode is over, just continue

in prayer for a moment and ask God to open your eyes and for me to do the same in my eyes. What are we

holding to that's tradition or commandments of men that is not a commandment from God.

And it's not that all traditions are bad or things that we do that don't come directly

from God are bad, but there is a sinful tendency that Jesus is pointing out here where we

exalt our traditions and things we say we should do

over the clear things God has commanded. So God, we pray that you would help us. We don't want it to be

said of us that we leave your commandments and hold to our traditions.

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