Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
Mark 7:1-3
Do I dare ask the question, "Have you been critical about someone or something already today?" We all are so good at fault-finding. We are critical of nearly everything that we see. Mark tells us here that the Pharisees were being critical of the disciples. They misused Scripture to tear apart the body of Christ. And that's got to be the worst form of fault-finding: when we wield our Bible against each other in defending our positions that are opinions at best.
This is such a great reminder to us. We need to crucify our critical attitudes and give them over to the Lord. Time is so short here on earth and there are millions of people who need Jesus. We shouldn't even have time to see the faults when we're keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and showing the world His love. May this be a huge wake-up call for us to put off the things that cause us to get bitter and angry. Focus your time and energy on Jesus and all of the good and positive things He has done.
"But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him" (Colossians 3:8-10).
