Read & Reflect: Thursday, March 2
Read: Joel 2:12-14, Mark 7:6-9
Joel 2:12-14
12“Even now,” declares the Lord,“return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13Rend your heart and not your garments.Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
Mark 7: 6-9
6He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
Reflect:
Often, it is the “things” of this world we cling to, those things that fill the empty hours and empty hearts. But God says, “return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). He wants the Holy Spirit to fill those empty places. What things in your life, or time-wasters in your day, are taking you further away from Jesus?