Hearts and Actions Aligned

This morning I felt like reading from Mark's Gospel - and it is somewhat related to my most recent theme.  Here are the verses - Mark 7:6-8 NIV:

[6] "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. [7] They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.' "

[8] "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

The topic of conversation was the fact that Jesus' disciples were not following all of the prescribed rituals surrounding washing their hands before eating.  The Pharisees believed this defiled them, and were using this as an example of how Jesus couldn't be from the Father, for He allowed this blatant disregard for the Law and its accompanying teachings.

Jesus on the other hand goes right to the heart of the issue (excuse the pun), namely their heart condition. It seems that the Pharisees loved the tradition and law more than they loved God.  They said all the right things, but their hearts were far from Him, and the Father.  The word here translated hypocrites is the Greek word "hupokrite" which is defined as follows:

1) one who answers, an interpreter
2) an actor, stage player
3) a dissembler, pretender, hypocrite

In other words, He could see their hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, and knew that even though they were saying the right things, their hearts were far from Him, and that they had lost focus on the Very Words of God and instead were focused on the traditions of men.  They were in actuality playing a part, but underneath were unchanged and unresponsive to the invitation of Jesus.  What a terrible diagnosis to receive, especially if you think you are doing the right thing.

Jesus was all about shifting the paradigms of everyone He encountered!  He was representing the Father as He truly is, and correcting years of misundestandings about the purpose of the Law. He was inviting them to relationship but they preferred the praise of men.  The Lord desires our hearts first, then guides us to become more like Him through willful acts of obedience.

Oh Lord, help us to have our hearts and actions aligned.   Help us to love You first.

Amen!