“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you,
saying: ‘These people draw near to me
with their mouth, and honor me with lips,
but their heart is far from me.
And in vain they worship me,
teaching as doctrines
the commandments of men.’”
Matthew 15:7-9

The one place in the Scriptures where you see Jesus angry is when he deals with the religious leaders of the day. Religion establishes traditions, useless traditions which teach people that these traditions honor God. But they don’t.

When a person receives the “born-again” experience and begins to follow the Lord, he’ll receive a real wake-up call when he comes to realize that the traditions of the religion he was raised in are useless, many even rooted in idolatry.

“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
Jeremiah 16:19

A person born-again, reading the Bible for probably the first time, will be confronted by the huge discrepancy between useless traditions versus having a heart washed and set on the truths of God’s Word.

God doesn’t want the traditions of man. He wants the heart of man.

Ask the Lord today if there are things you are doing because of tradition, things you grew up with – but that are useless in his eyes. Then ask him what DOES please him. You may be in for a huge surprise. I was.