Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading titled What's Truly Needed

was written by Katera Patton. While preparing a meal, a young mother cut a pot roast in half

before she put it in a large pot. Her husband asked her why she cut

the meat in half. She replied, because that's the way my mother does it. Her husband's question,

however, piqued the woman's curiosity. So, she asked her mother about the tradition. She was shocked

to learn that her mother cut the meat

so it would fit in the one small pot she used. And because her daughter had many large pots,

the act of cutting the meat was unnecessary. Many traditions begin out of a necessity but are

carried on without question becoming the way we do it. It's natural to want to hold on to human traditions,

something the Pharisees were doing in their day. They were distracted by what seemed like the

breaking of one of their religious rules. As Jesus said to the Pharisees in Mark chapter 7,

you have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human

traditions. He revealed that traditions should never replace the wisdom of Scripture. A genuine

desire to follow God will focus on the attitude of our heart rather than outward actions.

It's a good idea to consistently evaluate traditions,

anything we hold close to our heart and follow religiously. The things that God has revealed to be

truly needed should always supersede traditions.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Mark 7 verses 8 through 13.

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.

And he continued.

You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe holding on to human traditions. And he continued,

You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.

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