The longer you are a Christian, the easier it is for your external spirituality to exceed your inward fidelity to God. Most of us have experienced a brand of Christianity in people that displayed the externalities of holiness in a way that made us feel judged instead of loved. This sort of approach to Christianity causes us to modify our behavior in order to appear to be more “Christian.” But Jesus constantly called the Pharisees out for this sort of behavior.
In Matthew 15, Jesus confronts the Pharisees for using their written traditions selfishly to break commandments. We see this sort of selfish half-obedience in ourselves when it comes to prayer. Prayer is set apart for God, but if God answered “yes” to every single prayer you prayed last week, how many people outside of you and your family would be positively affected? In this way, we try to leverage the spiritual practice of prayer for personal gain.
Jesus turns his attention to the human heart, calling out those who perform lip service to him while their hearts are far from him (v. 8). This label of “hypocrite” that he gave the Pharisees rightly falls on us today who modify our external behavior by trying to simply do what Christians do. Jesus goes on to explain that it is what comes out of a person that defiles them. When Peter asks Jesus to explain what this means, Jesus scolds him, saying, “Are you also still without understanding?” (v.16). He finishes by explaining that what comes from the mouth proceeds from the heart (v.18). Jesus pays special attention to the heart of the people rather than external words or actions.
The longer you’re a Christian, the easier it becomes to project a sense of spirituality while your heart is hard towards God. How is your heart? At the core of intimacy with God are the disciplines of time in the Word and prayer. As we grow in intimacy towards God, we can address the internal cause of our sin rather than the external effects. Take time every day this week to pray and ask God, “Father, help me to see how my heart is today.”