Matthew 15:8-9 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’”

I thought I would be quoting the New Testament, but this is Jesus quoting Isaiah! Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet are quite accurate in Jesus: a Theography in saying that Christ is the theme of the entire Bible, from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. Human nature hasn’t changed, and neither has God. What this passage says is precisely how new/false religions spring up. That might seem obvious, but Isaiah, and Jesus, were talking to people who knew Yahweh, or at least knew of Him, and they had the Law of Moses. Rules are necessary for a smoothly functioning society, but we have to be very careful not to put human rules on the plane of God’s commands, much less supplant God’s commands with human rules, as the Pharisees were doing here. On a lower level, this can be illustrated by what has been going on in the US, with the Bill of Rights being supplanted by “woke” policies. Thankfully that looks like it’s being reversed, but it really got to some absurd levels. That said, we are quick to recognize when others do this sort of thing but fail to see where we are doing it ourselves. A correct relationship with God requires a fundamental humility that is all too often lacking. Even in prayer, we are quick to come to God with a list of requests that are all too often demands, rather than expressing our heart to Him and listening for how He will respond. People who put down prayer have no concept of listening to God!

As I have commented many times, I grew up in a home where prayer was as natural as breathing, and I’m deeply grateful. That would not have been possible without a fundamental commitment to obedience on the part of my parents, but that commitment underlaid everything they said and did. I have certainly strayed from that more times than I like to remember, but I seek to have that commitment as my own guiding principle. That said, I still have the tendency to place my own opinions and preferences entirely too high in my priorities, desiring what feels good to me instead of what God is saying. That is entirely foolish, because I know full well that God is love, and His every command is for my benefit. This is most often an issue for me as a pastor, where my opinions can have the weight of law at times. I’ve got to be very careful of that, especially when God uses one of the church members to correct me! I do not want to be in the position of the Pharisees to whom Jesus was speaking, nor of the people Isaiah was addressing.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all You have been doing in this conference, for the physical healing Cathy and I have experienced and for how You have spoken into our hearts. May we not let these things slide or fade away, but rather live out all that You desire of us, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!