The Lord rebuked the religious leaders of His day for their formal and hypocritical devotion towards God, which lacked God's truth, and His love and concern for others.  He rejected the religious traditions of men, because their hearts were alienated from God and were empty of His love.  Love without truth is hypocrisy.  In vain they worshiped God - their worship was not of the Spirit, therefore it was not in truth, and so it amounted to nothing.  The Lord's great concerns are truth and love. The truth of God is constant, and His work will be done in His way. "For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth" (2 Corinthians 13:8). Without love in our hearts, we easily wander away from God's truth, and then we become subject to God's discipline so we can be restored to the right path.  "...our prayer is for your perfection.  This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority - the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down" (vv. 9b, 10).

As children of one heavenly Father, we share one heart.  Because we share one heart we are to be motivated by love and concern for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  We should display the tenderness of the Father's heart for the building up of one another, and not for tearing each other apart.  "Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?  Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.  Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.  You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high" (Isaiah 58:3-4).  We belong to one another in the same body, and we need each other, to encourage and edify one another, so that we be deeply rooted in the things of God, growing in the knowledge of Christ, depending on Him more fully, and loving Him more deeply.  This requires that each of us, as members of the body of Christ, be individually healthy, so we will corporately be strong.  We are to use our spiritual gifts and graces for the benefit and blessing of the whole body; in this way the body will grow up towards maturity and be unified in truth and love.  Let us pray today that every believer would recognize the vital role they play in the proper working and functioning of the body of Christ, and the absolute necessity of their feeding on the Word of God as the source and supply of their strength and health, as well as the importance of ministering to other members of the body through the power of the Word.   May we work together as a body to grow up into the Head, which is Christ.  "From Him [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:16).
___________________________________________________________________