Traditions

   "If we obey what God says according to our sincere belief, God will break us from those traditions that misrepresent Him." (Oswald Chambers)

   Traditions that misrepresent God. What would those include? I would think that would be anything that I believed, from whatever source, about God, that was not exactly right. It could be something that I misinterpreted from Scripture. It could be something that I had been taught, even in church.

   So, according to the reading this morning, I need to obey God, according to my sincere belief. But my beliefs may be sincere, and sincerely wrong. I can be following those traditions that misrepresent God, so how am I to know?

   Beware of following any mere man, no matter his credentials. Even Oswald Chambers can be wrong, and I believe he would tell us not to follow what he says, but to look only to God for wisdom.

   I use Oswald as a starting point to think about what God is trying to teach me on a particular day, but I do not make him the end all. The words of any day's reading are a springboard to get me to ponder, and to reflect on what God wants to reveal now.

   In myself, I would like for someone to be so close to God, and to know Him so intimately, so that he could write a book that would tell me how to live to please God and to know Him. Then I could buy the book and follow it and know that I was OK. Gone would be the pondering, the meditating, and the contemplations, and I could check my mind and heart at the door and follow the script.

   But, alas, that is not the way, and, in reality, that is not really what I desire. What I want to do is to be a friend of God, like Abraham, to hear and obey from the source of all Truth. I need a book to go by, for sure, but that book is already in my hand, and it was not written by a mere man.

   Oh, God, break me from those traditions that misrepresent you.