March 1                                                                                                         Mark 7:  1-23

 

“Dear God, Thank You for Everything in the World. Amen.”

 

 “…These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…” – Mark 7:  6

 

We have a nightly battle in our home with our two children...both fight mercilessly for who gets to say the prayer before dinner.  And that’s not the only struggle.  After a “winner” has been declared, it’s then a race to see how fast it can be said so that we can get on with “the eating”.  Furthermore, night after night, it’s the same, exact prayer – one that was lovingly passed down from my oldest daughter to my youngest son.  It usually begins with the “laundry list” of members in our family to be blessed including the dog, cat, and hermit crab and then always ends with ”Thank you for everything in the world. Amen.”  Mind you, our children would never let you forget to pray before dinner.  If you were a guest at our table they would promptly notify you to fold your hands.  To eat dinner without a prayer would be fine – just unnatural.  It’s engrained in them, just like the words in their prayer.

 

Despite our numerous attempts to have our children put more thought and “heart” into their prayers, we are often unsuccessful.  The nightly prayer may change somewhat for awhile, but then it always goes back to the same custom.

 

While reading Mark 7: 1-23, I couldn’t help but reflect on our little, nightly “ritual”.  In this passage, the Pharisees and some of the teachers of Jewish law had gathered around Jesus and his disciples who were eating food with unwashed hands.  The Pharisees and Jews were bothered by this as they would not eat unless they gave their hands a ceremonial washing, and they followed various traditions such as these.  They asked Jesus why his disciples did not live according to the tradition of the elders to which He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me…”

 

Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites.  I can’t help but also feel that we have fallen into hypocrisy…when we are following our religious practices - daily prayer, attending church, reading scripture – but all the while allowing our hearts to remain distant from God.  My children are not the only ones guilty of reciting the “laundry list” during their nightly prayer … I too have fallen into the trap.  It’s easy to rationalize that I am doing the “right things” but I know that God wants more from me.  He wants a relationship with me.  Being close in relationship takes time and effort – even when it’s with the Lord.  He wants my heart, my children’s hearts, and He wants yours.  Jesus explains that we are not pure because of any outward acts.  We become pure on the inside as Christ renews our mind and transforms us into His image.  He cannot do this if our hearts are far from Him.

 

“Dear Lord, please help me to put my relationship with You above what distracts me each day.  My heart is Yours.  I pray that You will purify my heart and transform me into Your likeness. Amen.”

 

~ Stephanie Haines