Traditions or Worship

5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God) — 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Mark 7:5-13 (ESV)

We have many traditions in the church today. It really does not matter what denomination you are involved in but many of the actions and interactions within churches today go back to simple traditions started; either out of what was believed to be necessity or it was something that seemed important at the time. You know what I mean the same musical group has been singing at your church on the third Sunday in March for the last 25 years. If you decided to bring in someone new or change the date of the performance; your pastor would look like John the Baptist with His head on a platter. I am just being honest. We are just as guilty many times of holding tradition over what God has called us to. If we don’t get our seat on Sunday Morning or our parking place we might not stay. I once knew a lady who stopped attending her church because they cut down the tree she had been parking under for 40 years. It did not matter if the tree was dead and had been hit by lightning she held the pastor and staff responsible for the change to her tradition. I may be stepping out on a limb here but I don’t believe all the traditions we currently have will last past the sound of the trumpet and the day of judgment  that awaits us all. We need to be more focused on the true reason for our attendance and fellowship in church and that is to worship God through His Son Jesus; who sacrificed all, so that you and I could have an eternal life with Him.  I challenge you today examine your walk is it full of tradition or is one of true worship. I promise you He will meet your needs and bring understanding as to what you are to do if you will just walk in the light of His Word.