Day 10

Mark 7

Considering the church background that I was raised in, when I finally understood Jesus' teaching in the first part of this chapter, it was a revelation for me. Growing up, I was taught a lot about holding up traditions and staying clean on the outside. Nobody in my church would have dared to allow a drop of alcohol enter their bodies. Funny how nobody ever seemed to worry about the things we were stuffing down our throats at the fellowship meals every month. From the looks of most of us now...that was way more damaging to our bodies! I was once handed a cassette tape from a well meaning church member warning me of the dangers of the rock music I loved so much. I guess I didn't notice the evil in it because I had forgotten to play it backwards. What really hit me was later when I heard the lady who was so concerned with my musical preferences had left her husband and son to go shack up with a man halfway across the country. I watched church leaders that I respected as a boy, literally tear the church down the middle due to their own pride and arrogance. It was about then that I realized that these people who looked so holy to me on Sunday were much cleaner on the outside than the inside. And I was included in that too. Sure, it matters what I allow to enter my body, what I listen to, what I watch. But the focus, according to Jesus, should be what's coming out of my heart and life. That tells me the true condition of my soul. It doesn't matter if good is going in to your heart if you've still got bad coming out. There's still something wrong. As an adult, I've learned a lot about keeping an eye on my spiritual output rather than just watching the input. Both are important. But Jesus said only one truly defiles me (v.18-23).