Tradition
Definition:
Strong's Greek – 3862
parádosis
(from
3844
/pará,
"from
close-beside"
and 1325/dídōmi,
"give over") – properly, give (hand over) from
close-beside,
referring to tradition
as
passed on from one generation to the next.
I don't believe all
tradition is bad. I will not judge you if you buy birthday gifts and
have parties. I will not judge you if you have Graduation parties. I
will not judge you if you decorate or dress up for Halloween and head
out for some yummy candy, games and fun. I will not judge you if you
put up a Christmas tree, lights and buy gifts at Christmas time. I
will not judge you if you celebrate your wedding anniversary and have
a traditional way you celebrate. I won't judge you for the baby
shower or wedding shower you have. I won't judge you if you don't
celebrate or have a 'tradition' for any of these things because I
don't see sin in any of these unless you put them above God and His
Word. If your 'traditions' become gods in your life and cause you to
gossip, stress out, spend more than you should on stuff you nor they
need, manipulate people or just give you an excuse to be
self-centered and selfish....then I think the tradition is a problem.
When you tell others their
traditions are sin and you condemn them and yet you have your own
traditions, that's a problem. If you want to condemn some traditions
then get rid of all of yours!
Now with that said, there
are traditions that do not line up with the Word of God, they are
made by religious people that desire power and I believe it's to take
the attention off what is really going on in the persons life. They
make a rule, a tradition that you must follow because they know you
will have this or that happen to you or they scare you with God can't
love you or people won't take you seriously.....that is not from God.
Mark 7 “He
replied,“Isaiah
was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“ ‘These
people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
7They
worship me in vain;
their
teachings are merely human rules.’
8You
have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human
traditions.” 9And
he continued, “You
have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to
observe
your
own traditions!
He
goes on to talk about how they watered down the honor your parents
command, changed it to suit their desires and He said they do many
things like that.
I
believe when we make 'traditions' in the church we are putting our
will on other people instead of God's will. We take grace away, we
deny the power of the cross. And when we desire to follow half truths
or traditions that have nothing to do with God's commands, we are
really living in fear and seeking to be approved by man.
So
how do we, do I, know when a tradition is something to let go of?
Ask
yourself these questions:
Does
it put a burden on us/me?
Does
it cause me to question the cross and what it does for us/me?
Does
it make me live in fear of God's wrath?
Does
it contradict God's Word?
If
it doesn't and it's just a wonderful memory maker and in no way
dishonors God....by all means, enjoy your tradition. I know I enjoy
mine!!
