Good Practice

Good Practice

Bible Blast: Read Mark 7:1-8

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Mark 7:6

Greta, Molly, and Kelli are sitting together at lunch. Molly and Kelli are excitedly talking about their plans for a sleepover Friday night. Kelli leaves the table to get another straw because hers has a hole in it. As soon as she leaves, Molly leans over to Greta and says, “I can’t stand her! She laughs at everything even when it’s not funny. I can’t believe I have to spend the night at her house this weekend!” When Kelli comes back, Molly smiles big and begins chatting away again about the sleepover.

Molly is honoring Kelli with her lips (when she is right there in front of her), but her heart is far from her.

In today’s focus verse, Jesus describes that very thing. Some of the church leaders were speaking all sorts of things that honored and glorified God, but their hearts didn’t follow what their mouths were saying. They were being fake, and Jesus didn’t like it—at all. Those leaders didn’t realize that God doesn’t focus on the outside of someone. He looks at the heart (see 1 Samuel 16:7).

That kind of hypocrisy reminds me of some of the things I experienced when I was a tween. “Mean girl” moments were all around. Some girls said terrible things right to my face, and others said them in a loud whisper. Still others tried to hide their whispers but weren’t very successful at keeping what they said from me. I’m particularly saddened by some of the memories, the ones when I was the mean girl, saying terrible things about someone else. Have you experienced some of this?

How you treat other people really matters. If you find it really easy to be dishonest and two-faced with girls in your school, then it could be just as easy to be that way in your relationship with God. Like, it might not bother you to tell someone at church that lying is wrong, even though you often stretch the truth when you’re at school.

It’s important that our actions match up with our words. It shows God and others that we really love them.

Girl Gab: Daughter, talk to your mom about situations you’ve encountered like the one with Greta, Molly, and Kelli in today’s devo. Mom, do you remember anything like that when you were a tween? Tell your daughter about it. Ask God to connect your heart with the words you speak.