And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:5-8
Dear Lord Jesus, these are strong—even scathing words. It’s one thing if such a biting rebuke came to us because we were acting like self-righteous Pharisees or censorious scribes—score-carding our neighbors; putting people under the yoke of performance-based spirituality; replacing your clear commands with our pious traditions.
But it’s even more humbling when you have to confront for becoming self-righteous about your grace—the ultimate non sequitur.
Forgive us, Lord Jesus, when we love exposing and condemning false gospels more than we love spending time with you in prayer and fellowship.
Forgive us when we’re more paranoid about falling back under the law than excited to offer you the obedience of faith and love.
Forgive us when we call ourselves “recovering Pharisees” and “recovering legalists,” when in reality, we’re not recovering from very much from anything.
Forgive us when we’re more known for exercising our newfound Christian liberty, than those who fight for the freedom of 30 million human slaves in the world.
Forgive for talking more about who “gets” and doesn’t “get” the gospel, than humbling confessing our sins to one another.
Forgive us for being just as arrogant about grace theology as we were obnoxious about legalistic theology.
Forgive us when we don’t use our freedom to serve one another in love, but rather to put our consciences to sleep.
Forgive us when our love for the gospel does not translate into a love for holiness, world evangelism, and caring for widows and orphans.
Forgive us for having a PhD in the indicatives of the gospel yet failing miserably when it comes to celebrating the imperatives of the gospel.
Forgive us when we love “the gospel” more than we actually love you, Lord Jesus, as impossible as that may seem.
We praise you for your kindness that leads us to repentance. Change us, by your grace and for your glory. So very Amen we pray, with convicted and humbled hearts.