I’m a wee bit embarrassed to share this story. But here goes.

About twenty-five years ago I was the youth fellowship leader at my church. One of the duties of our youth group was to organize the evening service at our church one Sunday a month. That meant I had to bribe and cajole my fellow youth group buds to participate in the rather formal proceedings of the service. However, one role that didn’t require any prep and drew in extra volunteers was that of “Bible Carrier.” Let me explain.

Growing up, we attended a traditional church in south India, with a service similar to a Church of England format. At the start of the service, the organist would play the opening instrumental piece, the congregation would rise to their feet, and the Bible would be carried down the aisle and placed on the altar.

Now here’s the part that makes me cringe. As the youth group leader, I had a certain “filter” when it came to choosing the person to carry the Bible down the aisle. I would pick someone who was, in my opinion, “appropriately” dressed for the task. In my book, that meant guys who happened to wear jeans would be eliminated from this assignment. While I didn’t explicitly mention it, the “chosen one” would have to be formally dressed. I know—yikes! Completely and wholly embarrassing to admit.

In my defense, this was a conservative church in South India in the nineties. Okay, that’s not really a defense. Just a thinly veiled excuse.

(Quick aside: I happened to find an “appropriately dressed” guy at that youth group—and I ended up marrying him. Incidentally, he wears jeans to church every Sunday.)

But here’s what had happened. I had elevated my personal standard of morality and turned into an external gauge of someone’s holiness.

But perhaps this incident should cause us to ask ourselves: what external standard have I elevated above God and His Word?

In Mark 7, verses 1-8, we are told that the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law approached Jesus completely aghast that His disciples would eat without washing their hands. No, these guys didn’t care about the health and hygiene of the disciples. They simply cared about proving that they were holier than everyone else because they met external standards of “purity” that they’d imposed on themselves. This ritual of handwashing gave the Pharisees a veneer of self-righteousness which they then used to judge others.

Not too different from my “appropriate attire” standard.

Maybe for you, it’s not one’s clothes but some other criteria that you have elevated into a requirement for holiness. It could be something like: Does she attend a mid-week Bible study group? Does she quote verses in her prayers? Does she leave her toddlers at home and go to work? Does she homeschool? Does she send them to a Christian school? Does she…?

In the story of the Pharisees and their accusations in Mark 7, Jesus doesn’t bother responding to their barbs. Instead, He simply admonishes them for letting go of God’s commands and holding on to human traditions.

The bottom line is that God doesn’t care about outward appearance or our Christian activities. He cares about our hearts.

Unless our activities flow out of surrendered hearts, they are of no use to Him.

In Revelation 2, God says to the church at Ephesus that He sees their impressive track record of deeds, but then He adds, “Yet, I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” Friends, this is a message for me as much as it is for you: It’s time to go back to your First Love. 

God invites us to surrender to Him. In Isaiah 15, God says: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

God will never turn away a broken and contrite heart.

May we take the time to confess that sometimes we have upheld a standard of morality that is self-seeking and self-righteous. May we come before Him in brokenness and say, “Lord, nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to the Cross I cling.”

Jesus is not impressed by our good deeds, church attendance, modest clothing, Bible study notes, or any other outward standard that we somehow believe makes us “good enough” for His kingdom. He is concerned about the state of our hearts.

The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.

Today may our prayer be this: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the Lord I love; Take my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”