Context for Matthew 15:1-20
God never intended for His Law to be a set of rules to be blindly followed for the promise of some special reward. Instead, His Law was always meant as a measure of faith for those who trust in Him and believe His promises. Faith has always been the way to righteousness for sinful human beings, and works cannot accomplish anything but disappointment outside of that faith.
What someone does reflects what is in his heart, yet works cannot save us, even when we think those works are good and worthy of mention. That reality is the hard lesson of the nature of faith and works for the believer.
What God wants from us is faith in Him and in His salvation. Using that faith, God brings us closer to His will through the Word, which then opens our eyes to the work He has placed in our lives for us to do.
That work, which is not the kind of works the Pharisees sanctioned, reveals our faith outwardly in a way that faithless ‘trying to do what is right’ never can. That work reflects the will of our God, His will for us to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, and strength and to love our fellow men as He loves us.
My family is going through a contested Will situation. My eldest sister is in an Indian Cult and she despised my parents for their attempts to make her get out of it. In the end,she neglected them in their deaths and cursed them to all who listened to her. My parents were so upset with her. They reduced her portion of the Will to 5% of the Estate.She is a lawyer and is now fighting us for the 20% “she is entitled to”.(There are 5 siblings).I found this scripture Matt 15:3-7 interesting. In my heart, I think I have “put her to death”, but I still pray she finds Jesus’ redemptive love somehow…maybe the Guru Maharaji will and his followers will follow?Today, my siblings are meeting to defend giving her more, but not 20% of parents estate.Her life is a destructive path of little employment, drug use, divorce, lawlessness, rebellion and pain (emotional). I pray she finds Jesus, employment and true justice. Not sure if we are doing our bit with our decision.Any comments?
The only thing that any of us can do in such difficult circumstances is pray and do the best we can with what we know to be true. Yours is a difficult situation that deserves careful, prayerful consideration. Ultimately, I believe that the best circumstance that can be achieved is one that is reached through concensus among your siblings. If you all are faithful and trust God to do the right thing though you, His will is going to be done.
-=DLH=-