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Once when the Pharisees pointed out to Jesus that His disciples were eating food without washing their hands ceremoniously, He gave them an explanation about true spirituality. He told them that honouring God through words (or even external actions) was not sufficient if their hearts were far away from God (Mk.7:6). Think about how we might imagine we were truly worshipping God when we sang songs and raised our hands, while our life was not really right in God's eyes! We might go away thinking God must be really satisfied with our 'sacrifice of praise' while we even had sin hidden in our heart (Ps.66:18). The Pharisees imagined that they were very spiritual because they were very strict with washing of hands and tithing even mint and dill from their garden. But Jesus told them that their heart was far away from God.

This is the difference between religiosity and spirituality. Spirituality is of our heart relationship with God. If our heart is not clear and right before God, no matter what sacrifices we make or how much we 'serve Him', we are merely religious and we are very displeasing to God (Is.59:1,2). Looking at our external behaviour, people may call us 'godly' or 'spiritual', but actually God is unhappy with us. In such a situation, we cannot afford to presume on grace to cover us (Ro.6:15). Grace is an unmerited favour God gives to us when we are sorry about our sins and repent, and not if we try to cover them and pretend that God does not mind them.

Jesus clarified that what was going on in the heart was the root of sin, and a religious following of external holiness did not make us holy (Mk.7:15). He said that if the heart was full of evil thoughts, sexual impurity, hatred, deceit, etc., that would make us sinful, even if we washed our hands ceremoniously (vv.21-23). Imagine if we are regular in reading the Bible, praying, participating in the church, etc., but if our heart is wicked as Jesus described above! Do we then have any right to consider ourselves as spiritual?

But it was not only about the Pharisees of those days, but about us who call ourselves Christians and enjoy a good name before our fellow Christians. Can we look at our heart honestly and identify what all is going on inside there? Or are we satisfying ourselves with the reputation we have before others for all the 'good works' we do?

David, the man after God's own heart, fell into adultery with Bathsheba. When he repented, he realised that the act of adultery and the murder that followed came from impurity in his heart. Now he began to cry out to God for a clean heart (Ps.51:10). This is a revelation that should grip our heart and mind that what we are before God is what He sees in our heart and not so much about what all we do externally (1Sa.16:7). It is in our heart that our salvation should start. Our sanctification, or being set apart to God, should be first in a change of attitude in our heart, and that is where we must focus.

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