Jesus taught that all scripture testifies about him so that in him we might have life (John 5v39-40). King David taught that it is only by living according to God's word that we're kept on the right path (Psalm 119v9). What then could be better than reading the entire Bible? Click the menu to read about the program, choose a month or Bible book - or just work through the blog posts day by day.
BEGIN WITH PRAYER
"Lord open my eyes and my heart."
Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world.
Understanding to grow in
"Hypocrite" is a charge non-Christians only too often put to the church. Here we see what hypcritical Christianity is. It is one that goes through the motions of worship, but a worship that is vain because the individual's heart is far from God. And how is this evidenced? Jesus' answer is simple: By letting go of God's commands in scripture and holding instead to human ideas. It's a striking indictment of leaders and members in today's church who claim that modern ideas reflect God's will and that the Bible is outdated. However, there is a word here for all of us. For what Jesus goes on to highlight is that all our hearts are corrupted - being the source of the evil things we think, say or do. What is needed then, is the forgiveness and heart-change that only God can give. And what would have shocked Jewish readers is that this is just what the Phoenician women seems to experience. She would have been thought an unclean Gentile. Yet she displays a humility of heart that is willing to receive whatever overflow of salvation might come from God's purposes from the Jews (the twelve baskets left over from feeding the 5000). Jesus therefore responds to her faith by delivering her daughter from an "impure" spirit. As you read note how these two events challenge.
Mark 7:1-30
Finish this reading by pausing to ask yourself:
Finish this reading by pausing to ask yourself:
1) What’s the main thing it teaches me about God or his purposes in Christ? Then praise him for this.
2) What’s the main thing it teaches me about his will for me or the world? Then pray that home.
Devotion to offer up
You could read this aloud and perhaps as a springboard to further prayer.