1Kgs 11:4-13/Psa 106:3-4,35-40/Mark 7:24-30
The greatest issue the Lord had with the chosen people of Israel was their persistent turning away from him by falling into the sin of idolatry.
Their attitude led St Augustine of Hippo to identify and describe sin as turning away from the Creator and rather turning towards creatures.
It may not be a complete turn sway with a total shift of attention from the Lord. It, however, results in having divided attention between allegiance to God and idol worship.
For this reason, the word of God concludes that no one can serve two masters (cf. Mat 6:24). There is a high likelihood of obeying one and denying the other.
Therefore, faith in God with religious practices requires believers to be single-minded in devotion. Hence, anything short of this renders faith rather ineffective.
The excerpt from the First Book of Samuel tells how Solomon became idolatrous and did evil in the sight of the Lord (First Reading).
Consequently, his attitude attracted the wrath of God and punishment that caused the kingdom to be torn apart (ibid).
On the contrary, a Gentile woman of Syrophoenician origin used faith to attract healing from Jesus for her daughter who had a demon (Gospel).
