Practical Faith Is Invisible

5 min read

9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”
—Mark 7:9

There are nothing wrong with traditions. The “traditions” that Jesus is referring to are a collection of interpretations of Scripture and their corresponding applications. This collection, together with the Scriptures, became known as the Talmud. The Talmud is the heartbeat of a pious Jewish life.

The whole point of these traditions was to help the Jewish community navigate the 613 laws of Scripture in practical ways—to make the law a part of their daily living. What could be so bad about that?

The answer may be found (and brace yourself, because this may be shocking) in the sign of the beast: “666.” People interpret that sign in different ways, but the one that makes most sense to me is that the sign of the beast represents the very best of humanity—the very best that we could ever attain to and achieve. But without God. And that is the devil’s mission—to make humanity pursue a life without God.

It’s like that old song by the Pixies that goes, “If the devil is ‘6’ …. then God is ‘7.’” In many cultures, the number “7” represents perfection, and repeated three times, it represents complete perfection. God is completely perfect—”777”—and He has given us His perfect word through the prophets and fulfilled His perfect Word in His Son Jesus Christ.

Everything that we, as sinful humanity, try to do to “enhance” our faith and devotion to God through “traditions” (or in modern lingo “religion'“) has the very strong potential for falling into the hands of the devil.

Jesus said something that may be highly relevant in this regard. He said to not make promises to God by swearing by heaven or by earth or by our own heads. He said that, instead, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37).

Any “tradition” we devise to “help enhance” our faith and devotion is not pure faith and devotion, but rather culturally driven. In that case, there is the danger that our faith and devotion will become directed at traditions, guided by our culture, and not directed at God, guided in His perfect Word. Thus, “666.”

Again, all of this does not necessarily make our traditions evil. However, we do need to remind ourselves and one another of these things and help one another to conscientiously focus our faith and devotion exclusively to Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning—the Living Word of God.

Father, You are God, Maker and Creator of heaven and earth. You stitched me in my mother’s womb, whom I do not even know. But You know all things. You hold the whole universe together by Your power. And yet You are mindful of me. Forgive me when I focus my faith on things instead of You. Give me (and give us) eyes, ears, hearts, minds, and bodies to worship You and You alone. In Jesus’s name. Amen.