"THE MAIN THING!!"

Mark 7:6-16                 (1599 Geneva Bible)
"6 Then he answered and said unto them, Surely Isaiah hath prophesied well of you, hypocrites, as it is written, This people HONORETH ME with LIPS, but their HEART is FAR AWAY from ME.
7 But they worship ME in vain, teaching for DOCTRINE the commandments of men.
8 For ye lay the Commandments of God apart, and observe the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and of cups, and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Well ye reject the commandment of GOD, that ye may observe YOUR own tradition.
10 For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother: and Whosoever shall speak evil of father or mother, let him die the death.
11 But ye say, If a man say to father or mother, Corban, that is, By the gift that is offered by me, thou mayest have profit, he shall be free.
12 So ye suffer him no more to do anything for his father, or his mother.
13 Making the word of GOD of none authority, by YOUR tradition which ye have ordained: and ye do many such like things.
14 Then HE calleth the whole multitude unto him, and said unto them, Hearken (listen) you all unto me, and "understand".
15 There is NOTHING without a man, that can defile him, when it entereth into him: but the things which proceed out of him, are they which defile the man.
16 If any have ears to hear, let him hear."


In the "hustle-bustle" culture that we find surrounding our lives, we sometimes become so caught up in the things associated with worship, that we lose focus on whom we are worshipping!  That has been a tool of the enemy for quite sometime. We get so busy doing good things, that we wind up doing them because we perceive them as good.  Anything the enemy can do to get our attention off of "THE MAIN THING" is his goal.

The Scribes and Pharisees were some of the most educated, refined individuals of their time. But JESUS was telling them that honoring GOD with their lips was fine and dandy, but their hearts had to be focused on HIM also.  In verse 13, JESUS expounded that they had forgotten the power of GOD's word and had replaced THEIR OWN tradition in its place.  I can hear their argument now "But that's the way we have always done it!"  Never mind what GOD instructed, we want to do it differently!

There is a saying I learned when I was younger that went something like this.  "THE MAIN THING we need to remember is to keep THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING!!"  If we allow ourselves to get caught up in the rat-race that the devil tries to implement in our lives, we risk missing the blessings GOD has planned for us.  It is important for me to keep the MAIN THING, "THE MAIN THING"!!