The Spirit of Religion 👀
🌿 Memory Verse: " These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules." ~Matthew 15:8-9 (NIV) In Matthew 15, we see the Pharisees approaching Jesus with a complaint. They were concerned that His disciples were eating without first washing their hands according to the tradition of the elders . At first glance, this might seem like a reasonable concern. However, Jesus used the opportunity to expose something much deeper. These were people who appeared devoted to God outwardly, yet their hearts were far from Him. This was not the only occasion where we saw this behavior. The Pharisees questioned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, criticised His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath, and accused Him of blasphemy on several occasions. They were so consumed with religious regulations that they often missed the very things God valued. Jesus even reminded them of what was written in Hosea 6...