Week Four, Day Four
While traditions are usually not wrong in themselves, Jesus warned about the place traditions hold in our lives. The Pharisees and those who were religious elevated adherence of traditions over living out the true essence of God’s law: loving God and loving others. When that happens, traditions, which were meant to draw us closer to God, become idols in our lives that draw us away from God.
Read about this in Matthew 15:1-20.
Do your traditions ever get in the way of living out the command of God? Do you ever require adherence to tradition and elevate it above loving God and loving others? Sometimes our desire to follow tradition trumps our desire to follow Jesus. We can find pride in going through the motions of religiosity and fail to be convicted when we marginalize or ignore people in need who God commanded us to love. We can prioritize doing over being, acting over becoming. We can honor God with our actions and lips, yet our hearts are far from His own. When we pay more attention to action than motive, everything we do is in vain; our efforts are worthless to God.
Awareness Prayer – God, help me become more aware of my own hypocrisy.
Reflection Question – What traditions may be a stumbling block to those encountering the Gospel for the first time?
Get today’s full devotional by purchasing the book “Becoming More Aware” at www.becomingmore.online
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