Skip to content

Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

January 09, 2019

January 8, 2019 by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: MARK 7

1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

“THEY FOUND FAULT”
The Pharisees and scribes were quite a biased, prideful bunch. They always had their eyes on everyone else. You rarely see any of the religious leaders in Jesus day that actually stopped to take a look at themselves with scrutiny. This happened to be something that Jesus really detested. Here they were upset at the disciples of Jesus because they saw His disciples eating and fellowshipping with individuals that had not thoroughly washed their hands. I sure am glad that the Pharisees were not eating with my sons. The Pharisees sure made a big issue of this. They considered a person “defiled” if that person didn’t outwardly, ritualistically, clean objects in their life that involved their food. Now I am all for keeping things clean, and I’m sure Jesus was also, but Jesus felt it to be more important to keep your heart clean, than your hands.

The first thing we need to learn is that there are always people in your life that will be very good at finding and pointing out your faults. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, and they still found things to criticize Him about. But imagine if Jesus had let their criticism make Him give up. We wouldn’t have salvation if He had done that. Don’t let criticism make you quit either.

Secondly, we need to be motivated by this passage to be the kind of disciples that love people for who they are and where they are. Let’s not be condescending or above others. Maybe they don’t look, or act, or do things the way we do. Each of us are “defiled” in our flesh to. There are “none righteous no not one”.

And last, may we be reminded today that God desires above all else that we are clean on the inside. It does not mean we do not need to be clean on the outside, but it means that our top priority is to make sure that our heart is right. That is what is most important to Jesus. This is what He said, “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Post navigation

Previous Post:

January 08, 2019

Next Post:

January 10, 2019

Recent Posts

  • December 31, 2020
  • December 30, 2020
  • December 29, 2020
  • December 25, 2020
  • December 24, 2020

Archives

  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
March 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Dec    
* indicates required
© 2023 Daily Devotional | WordPress Theme by Superbthemes