January 1 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 15:1-20:

¹Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
²Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
³But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
⁴For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
⁵But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
⁶And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
⁷Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
⁸This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
⁹But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
¹⁰And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
¹¹Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
¹²Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
¹³But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
¹⁴Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
¹⁵Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
¹⁶And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
¹⁷Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
¹⁸But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
²⁰These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

Devotional

The point of this striking verse in Hosea - a verse that our Lord Himself cited (Matthew 9:13; 12:7) - is not that God refused sacrifices and burnt offerings in Old Testament times. His people most certainly were required to offer them. But God did not desire merely formal observances without devotion of heart to Him and love to the brethren.

This truth is emphatically set forth elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. In Isaiah 1:11-16, for example, we read: "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. . . . And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."

We must ever guard against doing what is formally right without putting our heart in what we are doing. We may attend church, but not in a worshipful spirit; we may give, but grudgingly and not cheerfully.

We must remember that though we bestow all our goods to feed the poor and have not love, it profits us nothing. Be not like those who draw nigh to God with their mouth and honor Him with their lips, but whose heart is far from Him. Let us keep the commandments and ordinances of our God with faith and love in our hearts - with a faith that works by love - a faith that is genuine and true, which joyously and spontaneously expresses itself in deeds of compassion and love.

Welcome to "Think on These Things," a twelve-week daily devotional prepared by the late Dr. John H. Skilton, an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and for many years Chairman of the New Testament Department at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

We are indebted to P & R Publishing and Skilton House Ministries for permission to use this copyrighted material on the OPC Web site. (P & R held the copyright from 1975 to 2005, at which time they reassigned the copyright to Skilton House.)