Mark 7:¹⁴ And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” ¹⁷ And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The Pharisees had just criticized Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands before eating. In parenthesis, Mark explains that this was their tradition of washing hands when they came from the market place, which means washing away touching anything that a Gentile had touched, thus making them unclean. This was not a command under the Law for all Jewsalthough the priests were commanded to wash their hands before serving in the tabernacle or temple, so this was just a tradition of the Pharisees. Jesus then went on to show how hypocritical the Pharisees were. They held to their hand washing tradition legalistically, condemning those who disobeyed, and yet they would avoid supporting their parents in need, using a hypocritical oath saying they had given their money to God and didn’t have any for their parents. Mark 7:⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; ⁷ in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

That led to a teaching by Jesus of what defiles a man. He was not saying that he Jews should no longer follow the laws of not eating unclean meats. That would contradict what Jesus said in Matthew 5:¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” The Law would not be abolished until 70 AD according to Hebrews 8:¹³ In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” That verse was written around 60 AD predicting the vanishing of the Law in 70 AD. Even the Jewish Christians continued to keep the Law during the transition period from 30 AD to 70 AD.

What Jesus is saying is that it’s not really what you eat that defiles you. What you eat is digested and the wastes come out. It’s what is in your heart that defiles you and what’s in your heart will always end up coming out of your mouth, your mind, your actions. Here’s a great image.

As the capital one commercial says, “What’s in your wallet?” What’s in your heart?

These verses comfort me and scare me. The other day in inservice at school, teachers in groups were asked to give a positive comment to all the teachers in their group. All the compliments given me were “Nicky has a lot of knowledge that he shares.” That’s good but other treachers got comments like “John really cares about the kids and loves them.” Why am I known more for my knowledge than my love.

Bottom line, it’s comforting to know that God looks at the heart. David was a man “after God’s own heart”. He committed adultery and murder, but God forgave him b/c David had a pure heart even though he really messed up. He later begged God, “Create in me a clean heart” again. I have so many bad things in my heart but it is comforting that the grace of God will forgive me just as He forgave David.

But then it’s scary to know that God looks past all my knowledge, good deeds, Bible teaching and preaching, and mission work to see what’s really in my heart. He knows when I am being hypocritical, unloving, judgmental, bitter, proud. He saves me by His grace but He expects me to change my heart, to try to get rid of all the bad things in my heart.

He gives me the Spirit to help me do that b/c my flesh is so evil that I can’t do it by myself. Ezekiel 36: 26 And I will give you ⁱa new heart, and ⁱa new spirit I will put within you. ⁱAnd I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.” (Romans 8:6-8) When you have those evil thoughts in your heart, if you ask the Spirit to help you get rid of them and replace them with pure thoughts, then He will help you. It’s called the “renewing of your mind” b/c the heart is just an organ and it’s really all about the mind. Philippians 4:⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

So we will never have a perfectly pure heart. That’s the scary part. We can fall from grace and lose our salvation. I need to try harder to allow the Spirit to change my heart. In Acts 8, Simon had been baptized but then he wanted to buy the apostles’ gift of laying hands on believers to give them miraculous gifts. Acts 8:²⁰ But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. ²² Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” That means that a baptized believer could be in serious trouble with God if his/her heart is not right before God.

So this article is to enoucrage me to try harder to let the Spirit help me change my heart.

Here’s a great song to close with. Please listen to it for your devotional thought for the day and then pray, “change my heart oh God, make it ever new…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlSmG-_eJTU