Mere Human Rules

04.28.14

Matthew 15.8-9 8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” (NIV)

In Matthew 15 Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 29.13). In the context, the Pharisees had criticized Jesus for allowing His men to pick heads of grain and eat them without washing their hands first, according to Jewish tradition. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their “traditions” and tells them that Isaiah was right when he prophesied that the people would honor God with their words, but not their hearts. And Isaiah nailed them when he said: [Your] teachings are merely human rules.

Much of religion amounts to nothing more than mere human rules. (I’m sorry, I misspoke: All of religion amounts to nothing more than mere human rules.) Religion is used to club men into line. Religion is just religious sounding words that disguise the power of mere human rules.

In Genesis 1.27 it says, So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. I don’t think we appreciate how important this is but suffice it to say that without God, we are mere humans. Without God we are limited to our own pitiful and pathetic attempts at life which amounts to mere human rules. Man without God is merely human. Man with God, is creation founded in the Image of God. Big difference.

Religion sounds like God but it isn’t. Religion is a sophisticated attempt of man to prove to God that without Him, everything is still going to be okay. (I’m good and good enough!) But religion is merely a human attempt to find value and worth with God apart from relationship with God. That’s why it is comprised of mere human rules. Mere human stuff doesn’t amount to poop. (And that’s not to denigrate poop – it is very important in its own smelly way; but once it’s done, it’s done; who needs it after that?)

The point of this is either man with God, doing things God’s way – caring for one another, helping one another, and loving one another – or finding some kind of feel good but living according to useless poopy rules that in truth, don’t even amount to the necessity and importance of poop. And yet man insists on living his poopy little life trying hard to impress God with just how important a poop he really is by living according to mere human rules. Cow crap is better than that.

And what got me is this: I find I worship God with my words but often my heart is far from Him. I try to impress God with my own poop and declare myself acceptable as a result. Jesus told me today: it ain’t worth S#it! And every time I engage in such effort, all I’m saying to God is His creating me isn’t worth it either because my poopy rules are good enough to get me by…how tragic.

Father, I need You! I cannot go along trying to impress You with my pathetic efforts to keep the mere human rules. Free me all over again today to walk with You, fleeing the temptation to prove my worth by presenting You with my piles of poop. Father, may I walk in Your ways, amen.