Matthew 15:7-9 Their heart is far from God.
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 16, 2019, Matthew 15:7-9
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Note 2: This is a real devotion that I had in 2019. I believe that Ellen G. White had the gift of prophecy, so it is part of my devotions. It is okay for you to disagree with me. I am not trying to convince you to think the same as me. I am trying to teach you how to have interaction with God through studying the Bible. My devotional is just to give you an example of how to implement the format given above.
You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
(Understanding the Text) Jesus says that Isaiah was prophesying directly about the people of His day. However, this prophecy applies to today also. I read the comments, articles, and posts of so many Christians who claim to be following God, but their hearts are not God’s. How can I know this? It is apparent in their egocentric attitude of censure and arrogance. Their writing is all about I, I, I and objective condemnation rather than heartfelt sympathy. Loving God means that emotions (other than anger and pride) are part of one’s reasoning process. When I see an unloving attitude, a “gotcha” attitude, combined with pseudo-intellectualism, I know that they are not honoring God in their hearts. They do not bring the Bible into their conversation except as some kind of proof text to back up their own opinions, which are based on worldly philosophy rather than Biblical ideals. I contrast this with the attitude toward her detractors displayed by Ellen White. Yes, she makes the claims for inspiration that they wave around like flags, but she also explains what she means by her condemnation of certain people’s actions in terms of the Bible and the need to come before God humbly. When I finish reading the comments by pseudo-followers of God, I have a bad taste in my mouth and a mental oppression from being with sour people. When I finish reading comments by EGW, I am refreshed and looking to Jesus rather than man. That is the greatest evidence for me of all.
(Prayer) I pray not to point people to myself and not to speak in arrogance. I pray that I will speak humbly and leave people thinking of You, Jesus.
(Revelation of God / Understanding the text) How do we come to the point where we start replacing the commandments of God with commandments of men? I think the one step is to start focusing on trivialities rather than the heart and spirit of God’s commands. However, I think this happens when we have first no love in our hearts for our fellow man. It also comes from accepting a distorted picture of God. Love for others and a true idea of God’s character would make us reject any commands of men that hurt people and make God a liar. We would know and reject any ideas that misrepresent God’s love and justice. Believing and worshipping commands of men make people shortsighted and close-minded.
(Application) I think ultimately, we need humility to see the truths of the Bible clearly. Otherwise, in arrogance, we will see arrogance rather than love and self-sacrifice. We will see a reflection of ourselves in its pages.