God does not measure us by our beliefs, or by our religious practices. He measures us by the quality of our lives and, in particular, our love.
Religious people have an age-old tendency to get tangled up beliefs and traditions and become distracted from the primary call to love God and neighbour. At worst we use our beliefs and traditions as reasons to behave unlovingly.
In Jesus’ day, religious Jews were very diligent about their traditions relating to ritual purity. They had a wide raft of rules and customs that were designed to keep them pure. But Jesus’ disciples were not keeping to these traditions, and the other religious leaders were concerned that Jesus was undermining their faith.
Jesus pointed out that the dirt that goes into our mouths (from unwashed hands) isn’t the main issue. The real problem is the dirt that comes out of our mouths (what we say, and how we treat other people).
As Christian people we hope that God values our faith and our worship. He does. But he is far more interested in the way that we live out our everyday lives. Faith needs to bring the fruit of a good, honest, caring, generous life, or it is of no value to God.
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