What’s Truly Needed

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading, titled What's Truly Needed, was written by Katerra Patton. While preparing a meal, a young mother cut a pot roast in half before she put it in a large pot. Her husband asked her why she cut the meat in half. She replied, because that's the way my mother does it. Her husband's question, however, piqued the woman's curiosity. So, she asked her mother about the tradition. She was shocked to learn that her mother cut the meat so it would fit in the one small pot she used.

And because her daughter had many large pots, the act of cutting the meat was unnecessary. Many traditions begin out of a necessity but are carried on without question, becoming the way we do it. It's natural to want to hold on to human traditions, something the Pharisees were doing in their day.

They were distracted by what seemed like the breaking of one of their religious rules. As Jesus said to the Pharisees in Mark chapter 7, you have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions. He revealed that traditions should never replace the wisdom of Scripture.

A genuine desire to follow God will focus on the attitude of our heart rather than outward actions. It's a good idea to consistently evaluate traditions, anything we hold close to our heart and follow religiously. The things that God has revealed to be truly needed should always supersede traditions.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Mark chapter 7 verses 8 through 13. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions. And he continued, you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. For Moses said, honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban that is devoted to God, then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the Word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.

And you do many things like that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to follow your commands and to hold traditions that conflict with the Scriptures loosely so that we can more faithfully follow you. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Tony Collier and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.