As a society we tend to easily get set into certain routines, traditions whether it be daily, weekly or annually. These traditions in our spiritual lives can lead to stagnation with our walk with Christ and our witness to the world.

Routines are critical for our faith i.e. praying regularly, reading the scripture, fellowshipping with fellow Christians and the devil will never stop trying to disrupt our routines.

In the Old and New Testaments mankind’s traditions were a major stumbling block, there were set rules which you had to adhere to. The religious leaders of the day took God’s laws, commandments and “bolted-on” their own laws / interpretations which were implemented to either make their lives easier or were a direct power grab by the religious authorities and over the generations they became a tradition as the following generations wouldn’t have necessarily have realised that the bolt-on laws were not from God.

For people who have been brought up in a Christian setting we maybe performing actions in our walk with God because we’ve “always” done this from birth. Before we rush off and start ditching / changing our lives we need to discern what is scriptural and what isn’t and if it isn’t it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong.

I heard a podcast recently by Ravi Zacharias who quoted  G K Chesterton “before you take a fence down you need to find out why it was erected in the first place”.

This can be said of the Church in today’s society we can be quick to dismantle old traditions because we’re now living in a post modern world, but some of the Church traditions are important and scriptural we need to discern and ask ourselves and God what is relevant and necessary. There will be traditions which need to be dropped to allow the Church members to grow deeper in their faith, walk with God and allow the Church to be more effective in their evangelistic actions within the community.

Mark Ch7 v6-9: He said to them ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines”. You abandon the commandments of God and hold to human tradition’. Then he said to them ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandments of God in order to keep your tradition!’.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he tells his readers to be imitators of him as he is of Christ, and he commends them as they remember him in everything and have maintained the traditions just as he had handed them down to them; 1 Corinthians Ch11 v1-2.

And in Paul’s letter to the Colossians he says “see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe”; Colossians Ch2 v8. 

Thought for the week

There maybe routines, traditions in your life which maybe causing a blockage in your walk with God, this week why not take time out and seek God and ask him what aspects he wants you change. For some this will not be easy but if you seek him he will give you the strength and encouragement to persevere during the process.