Today’s Reading: Job 22; Mark 7; Mark 8
Scripture: Mark 7:18-23
18 "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19 For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "
Observation: Jesus addresses the common misunderstanding which associates spirituality with certain outward behaviors related to eating or drinking. If you do or don't eat or drink certain things, or if you do it in certain ways, you are thought to be more or less spiritual. But Jesus makes it clear that while many often focus on these outward behaviors, the real issue lies elsewhere. It is internal and invisible. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. It's not what goes in that makes a man "clean" or "unclean," that is, spiritually pure or impure. It's what comes out that shows the true condition.
Application: We just need to remember that most of what really matters to God is invisible to us. It is a real temptation to look on the outside and make a determination about the spiritual condition of a person. But as easy as it is to fall into that, it is important to avoid it. True, you can know a tree by its fruit, but that is referring to character attributes and not mere behaviors.
Prayer: Lord, give us discernment to better understand and help more people. And help us to reach out in love rather than judgment as a matter of regular practice. We want to represent You well and reach many people for You.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 comment:
Very true. We so often fall into the trap of judging others by man's standards instead of by God's. It's a hard trap to avoid because it is so ingrained in us. The invisible realm is actually more real than the physical world we live in because the latter is temporal and the former is eternal.
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