Breaking Away from Traditions

Colossians 2:6-8

Mark 7:1-13

Playing baseball all my life I became quite the superstitious person. I have had a lucky quarter that never left my pocket, the same socks that never got washed and even walked around the mound the exact same way after every single inning or strikeout. Sounds a little extreme doesn't it. Well I didn't have half of the traditions as some of my teammates. Anyone remember the eye black that you used to smear on your face, or maybe you still do? Well it apparently takes away the glare from the sun. Yeah right, it never took any glare off my eyes or yours. It is made up of crushed charcoal, paraffin, beeswax and petrolatum. Sounds like some really repellant stuff huh? Remember back when Bobby Valentine managed the Texas Rangers? He would put it on his face to manage; he never even left the dugout. Boog Powell, a former Baltimore Orioles star used it for 17 years in the majors. "I don't remember it ever doing any good," he said, "but you sure did look cool." Sit back and look at some traditions and beliefs that we have in our everyday lives. Can you see that some of them are almost comical?

The same thing has happened in our churches. We have pastors and teachers telling us things that have absolutely no biblical truth and no purpose behind what they are saying. The problem is that we Christians are so Bible illiterate that we don't question anything that is taught. We simply accept it for a fact. That is very dangerous. The Bible tells us to be rooted and built up in HIM. When you became saved you received a seed in your heart. That seed is the Word of God. Now we know that the Word of God is truth so that seed that rest on the inside of your heart is a good seed. No, it's a perfect seed. So the apostle uses the word "rooted" to symbolize a tree or plant that has started from a seed. Let the Word of God sink deep into your heart so that it grows and the roots of the word will be growing in you. To be built up is what happens to a building. Things get added on top of the ground and of each other. This is why Jude tells us to pray in the Holy Spirit which builds up our most Holy faith. When you pray, you edify yourself. The word "edify" in the Bible means to build ones self up. Allow the Holy Spirit to pray through you so that you may be built up in Christ Jesus so you not only have roots but you have a foundation and an external evidence of the Word that is inside you.

I challenge you this week to examine some traditions in your life. Are they like the eye black and serve no purpose? And are they backed by what the word of God says? Take a few minutes this week and write down exactly what you believe; then go to the Word and write down at least three scriptures for everything you believe. This will not only confirm what you believe but it will also strengthen you to be able to share your faith with more confidence.