Kindness does not flow from a bitter heart

Morning: Psalm 80; Nehemiah 9:1-25; Revelation 18:1-8

Evening: Psalms 77, 79; Joel 1:1-13; Matthew 15:1-20

Religious leaders can so easily fall into the trap of making rules that have no vital connection with the faith itself.  When Jesus points this out to some of them, they are displeased.  (Religious leaders may be prone to self-righteousness, too.)  The danger Jesus addresses is that rules sound as if they matter, when they may not matter at all.  For Jesus, the heart is what needs refinement, not the rules.  When truth shapes the heart, right actions follow.  The man whose heart is bitter cannot act kindly, no matter how much you insist that he should.