Matter of the Heart

“This people honors Me with their lips, but their HEART is far from Me” (Mark7:6b, ESV)  

There is an inherent risk with “skimming the Scriptures” rather than absorbing its message — that is, words can be merely words… whereas it ought to be God’s voice leading you His way. On top of that, there is an even riskier type of Bible reader: Those who legalistically “force” God’s words onto everyday, real-life scenarios in an unintended – sometimes even contradictory or non-sensical – way, as such to violate the very spirit and character of the message trying to be said. Recall what Jesus said to some scribes and Pharisees in Mark 7:5-13 — “…’ This people honors Me with their lips, but their HEART is far from Me; IN VAIN do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish YOUR tradition…” (ESV, excerpted, formatted for emphasis). Every now and then, re-evaluate your heart condition because believe it or not, our ‘by-default fallen nature’ makes it easy to become re-hardened despite God’s explicit presence and ongoing working in our lives (see Mark 6:6a, 6:51-2, 8:18-21, 9:49-50, 10:2-9). 

For crying out loud, are WE ever not like the Pharisees? Answer honestly. No! Countless times, we ALL have been guilty of “arguing with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him” (8:11, ESV). Remember how Jesus responded to that? And reflect on what Jesus made clear to His disciples in response to their wondering why they themselves — yep, the “rockstar 12” or “closest to Christ” — spectacularly failed at casting the unclean spirit from the boy in Mark 9:14-29… “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (ESV). That’s right, ultimately, GOD’S WORD – His sovereignty, has the final say and is the indisputable resolution to quite literally everything. That said, we only [and inevitably] frustrate ourselves (Isaiah 6:9-10) when we allow ourselves to grow hard-hearted and, thus, lacking in DISCERNMENT to what precisely God is trying to tell us in Spirit and Truth. 

Let’s end on Jesus’ own words in Mark 10:14b-15 — “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God LIKE A CHILD shall not enter it” (ESV). And as Jesus blessed them afterward, I too bless – or, pray God’s favor upon – you with regard to seeing & hearing (Matthew 13:16-7) as well as following the Lord (Matthew 16:24-6) by denying yourself and – arguably more practically – silencing all the noise of today’s modern distractions.

– Contributed by Bro. James Agtuca