Making into Laws the Traditions of Men

Pastor James was preaching from Mark 7 on Sunday, about the Pharisees making the traditions into laws, even overriding the actual Law. He spoke about how we can do that too: we apply Scripture to our lives and then expect that everyone else will apply it the same way and become upset or self-righteous or just annoying when they don't.

It's like this: we need to have convictions, to be fully convinced in our own minds about things (Romans talks about eating certain foods; Pastor James also used home schooling as an example) and act on our convictions.

BUT these convictions aren't spelled out in Scripture; they're simply how we apply Scripture. And what is spelled out is how we are to act: love others, humility, fellowship, etc. So if our convictions, or really the way we act concerning them, counteract the stuff that Scripture clearly commands, then we have a problem and we're making our traditions and convictions into laws.

I've been thinking about this. It's really, really easy for me to see other people do this. They're the ones who are proud of leaving facebook and giving up blogging to spend more time with God and having real fellowship with people and you can hear how much more spiritual they are now. Or they get up at 5 to spend 2 hours with God and how can you get through your day without doing that. Or...you can insert your own here. You follow, yes?

So that's them, but what about me? Where do I start to feel superior to others because of my convictions? How do I want to make traditions into laws? I don't know for sure, but it is something to think about.