RITUAL VERSUS HABITUAL ROSS SMITH
Whilst these two words seldom appear in our communications as a subject, they occur in our behavior as an object, that is, we exhibit either one or the other or both.
RITUAL is where we survive under a legal imposition, sometimes created for us and sometimes created by us. It often feels comfortable because it gives us some “nail of principle” that we can hang our behavior on, so we don’t have to deal with our conscience and we feel justified by engaging in the same actions or procedure on a regular basis. Unfortunately this can apply to our spiritual behavior as well as our natural behavior.
HABITUAL is generally CONSTRUCTIVE whilst RITUAL is always DESTRUCTIVE
Galatians 2:21 [Therefore, I do not treat God’s gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose]; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through [observing the RITUAL of] the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. [His death was then wholly superfluous.]
Galatians 4:3 So we [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew RITUAL and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations.
Let us not fall into the trap of thinking because we read or pray every day that we are fulfilling the requirements that the Lord has for us. The church has been at fault here for an extended period of time, particularly in some “religions” where good works, applied on a regular basis will ensure entrance into heaven. The practice of “confession” and the Mass, engaged in with fond embrace by the Catholic Church is another example of RITUAL which salves the conscience of the individual whilst condemning them to a certain death. We can also become infected with an improper attitude; we need fresh revelation every day. See how scripture confirms this:-
Psalm 145:2 Every day [WITH ITS NEW REASONS] will I bless You [affectionately and gratefully praise You]; yes, I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and NEW THINGS I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Matthew 13:52 He said to them, Therefore, every teacher and interpreter of the Sacred Writings who has been instructed about and trained for the kingdom of heaven and has become a disciple is like a householder who brings forth out of his storehouse TREASURE THAT IS NEW and [treasure that is] old [the fresh as well as the familiar].
Mark 1:27 And they were all so amazed and almost terrified that they kept questioning and demanding one of another, saying, What is this? NEW FRESH TEACHING! With authority, He gives orders even to the unclean spirits and they obey Him!
2 Corinthians 3:6 [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as MINISTERS AND DISPENSERS OF A NEW COVENANT [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.
HABITUAL is something we do as a determined commitment, with an objective in mind that supersedes any mindless engagement, but has a component to it that suggests there is a goal established by the awareness that we have a supreme purpose to fulfill and everything else becomes secondary, and we become addicted to receiving that “freshness” that comes with hearing His voice
Lamentations 3:20-23 My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me. But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.
Isaiah also understood HABITUAL when he penned the words: –
Isaiah 33:2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited [expectantly] (HABITUALLY – comments mine) for You. Be the arm [of Your servants–their strength and defense] EVERY MORNING, our salvation in the time of trouble.
Genesis 5:22 Enoch walked [IN HABITUAL FELLOWSHIP] with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked [IN HABITUAL FELLOWSHIP] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him].
Genesis 6:9 This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked [IN HABITUAL FELLOWSHIP] with God.
The word HABITUAL also has other meanings such as “Usual, Routine, Customary, Regular, Normal, Consistent, Ordinary” – but in using these terms does not suggest any form of “OCD” or “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” – but nominates that we operate in a conscious engagement and in a practice that has become completely normal, even though it transcends the mental.
“Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” is a relatively new medical term for an archaic condition, where people have been condemned to a life of misery due to the fact that they have to everything according to a repetitious misalignment of their priorities. Does this not suggest “RITUAL”?
Once we develop a HABIT it can become ADDICTIVE, and again not in an “OCD” form. It will take on unimagined dimensions with unbelievable results.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER (read – habitual) of a righteous man availed much.
Psalm 63:3 Because Your loving-kindness is BETTER THAN LIFE, my lips shall praise You (I have become ADDICTED – comments mine)
The Psalmist has obviously become addicted to the benefits of his relationship with God to the point he is now finding enjoyment that supersedes even living.
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall MEDITATE ON IT DAY AND NIGHT, (HABITUALLY – comments mine) that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. (Refer to notes on Casual and Causal)
The Prophet Isaiah was scathing in his assessment of the doublemindedness that attends the purely repetitious observance of behaviour that supposedly will pass for worship, or activities that are employed to relieve the responsibilities of genuine acknowledgement of God, a salve for the conscience. The analogies he uses are graphic to say the least, but alerts us to the necessity for sincerity in our relationship to the Lord.
Isaiah 66:3 (a) [The acts of the hypocrite’s worship are as abominable to God as if they were offered to idols.
Sacrifice, without the true spirit of sacrifice, is an abomination. RITUAL constitutes DISHONEST WORSHIP, that is, the disregard and/or superficial acknowledgment of the Grace of God, and the writer to the Hebrews suggests this is the ultimate insult.
Hebrews 10:29 How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] TRAMPLED UNDERFOOT THE SON OF GOD, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus PROFANING IT AND INSULTING AND OUTRAGING THE [HOLY] SPIRIT [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)?
It would be neglectful not to include the very early remonstrations of the Prophet Isaiah when in his very first chapter he sets the scene that he then has included in the last chapter 66:3, as follows,
Isaiah 1:12-13 When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you that YOUR [UNHOLY FEET] TRAMPLE MY COURTS? Bring no more offerings of vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility); [your hollow offering of] incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure–[it is] iniquity and profanation, even the solemn meeting.
Ross Smith 