The Pharisees chided Jesus in Matt 15 by asking, Hey, how come your disciples are disobeying our age old traditions by not washing their hands correctly? Jesus relied to their accusations saying, Why do you disobey the direct commandments of God? (my paraphrase) Isn’t that still true today. The spirit of religion causes people to question why we are not following a certain tradition or the way we have been doing something for years. But the Spirit of Christ questions obedience, regardless of whether it violates a good tradition or not.
So the next time you find yourself in that difficult position of questioning something that you are observing that is different from the norm, and we all find ourselves there from time to time. Make sure that your questioning comes from the Spirit of Christ, which questions and requires obedience and not from the spirit of religion, which only questions why we are doing it differently.
Traditions, no matter how good they are, never supersede obedience, no matter how insignificant the issue seems to be. Go for obedience. The reward is much greater.
D.O.V.E.