“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is certainly to be put to death’; but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is, given to God),’ you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

Something in our human nature makes us want to go our own way. We express this with exaggerated phrases like “It’s my way or the highway!” or “Over my dead body!” This heart problem is nothing new; the pharisees struggled with it as well. Instead of lifting up the way of the Lord, they chose to interpret Scripture in a way they could quantify and control. Their lens for their faith became based on their measure rather than humble submission to God and His direction.

This struggle is not foreign to us—it’s kindled in our hearts every time we gossip about another believer who is failing or when we forsake the demeanor of Christlikeness to get our point across. As much as we would like to choose our own way or measure the faith of others in a way we can quantify, image bearers of God were not designed to do that. We were created to reflect God, to be His vessels through which His love and goodness flow by the work of the Spirit in us.

When we start to hold things tightly or dig in our heels for the sake of being right, we must remember the primary calling Jesus points the Pharisees back to: We are called to live His way through His life by surrendering all areas of our lives to Him. We cannot neglect the commandment of God because we are persistent in our own way. Everything in our human nature screams to us to figure things out ourselves but our faith and beautiful design demands that we depend on God to help us follow the commandments.

• When have you insisted on your way instead of depending on God?
• Why is important to maintain the heart of Christ even when we want to prove our point?
• Pray and surrender to God, calling out to Him for help in following His commands in a Christ-like way.