Mark 7:14-23

Be Still: Lord, help me to be present to you as you are so graciously present to me. Amen

Read: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus said... ' Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.'

Encounter: Recently I've undergone several invasive medical procedures so I'm familiar with some of the things that go in and out of the body! Have no fear, I'm not going to describe them.

Jesus' starting point here is physical, declaring, in the face of Jewish dietary laws, that the food you take in does not 'defile' you, making you impure. However, he wants to teach his followers much deeper spiritual truths. Bad, impure things come from the heart. Don't blame outside influences, it's the heart that's the problem.

'The heart.' Biologically it's the organ that pumps blood round the circulatory system. But right back to ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures, it has been associated with our emotions, bad and good, including love. And we've often used it as a synonym for 'soul'. We've challenged seekers after Jesus to invite him into their 'heart'.

Today scientists tell us that, while the heart does play a part in our emotions (e.g., our pulse rate quickens when the Loved One appears), it is the brain, and particularly the section called the amygdala, that processes our emotions. Heart and brain work together to create the thought and feelings that erupt into outward action.

'I think he's an idiot. I feel contempt. I act against him.'

Jesus wants us to be changed from the inside out. And that means changing what we believe and what we think.

' Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2) 

',,,to be made new in the attitudes of your minds.' (Ephesians 4:23)

Apply: Let's pinpoint two ugly things that come out of us from time to time. Envy – 'I want what they have.' Jealousy – 'It's mine by right, not theirs.'

How do we eradicate them? Only by confessing that they are there, in our heart/mind, and asking our forgiving Lord Jesus to give us new beliefs, leading to worthy feelings and actions that honour him.

Devote: Lord, give me a new heart and mind to reflect yours.