Doing Is Believing - Mk. 7:15

"You are not defiled by what you eat, you are defiled by what you say and do." Mk. 7:15

Jesus was condemning the Pharisees' hypocritical behavior. They were allowing their rituals to overwhelm God's original intent, and were in fact violating certain Laws (that they were supposed to be bound to) just to uphold their traditions. It made me think of all that I didn't like about church. It can turn into a place that people allow their religion to be "housed" in, but not seen outside its walls. A place that they can point to and say, "That's what I believe," yet go right on living life as they always have. This is what I grew up watching in the Catholic church. While I am confident that not all Catholics were actually this way, my experience was that religion was something that you "did" on Sunday, then you go back to "regular life" after. These were not lives that were shaped by what they believed, and it smacked of hypocrisy. So I ask myself, "where is MY hypocrisy?"

Holy Spirit, I pray that you don't let me be deceived. Shine your light on hypocritical behavior in my life--I want to always be a solid witness for you.

Today's reading: Job 22; Mk. 7, 8