" 'These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' " Matthew 15:8-11 (NIV)
Here Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 concerning the lips and hearts of the people. In responding to questions from the scribes and the Pharisees, who performed their religious practices out of respect for tradition, Jesus said that they were just going through the motions of worship but that they did not believe in the things that they said or did. They were more concerned with the letter of the law than the principal behind the law. They were like religious shells, their outside looked religious, but their inside was empty and hollow. Their religious teachings and rituals were based upon things that man added to the ten commandments.
Don't be like some people who go to church purely out of habit. Worship requires active participation, it is not a spectator sport. We should pray before we begin our worship activity to insure that our frame of mind, attitude, and activity will be pleasing to God. Empty ritualism will not bring us closer to God. We should make sure that behavior and worship is focused on God. What we say and teach others should be Bible based. If our heart is not in it when we worship, then we really should not do it, because we cannot fool or impress God who sees our heart. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but The Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' " Matthew 15:18
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