Inside Out

June 16

Read: Mark 7:14-23

Inside Out

“Hear me, all of you, and understand: 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.”- Jesus (v.14)

One of the most common lies of the enemy that we embrace is that what defiles us comes from the outside of us. We want to blame shift and argue… justify ourselves… and claim that whatever evil we are wrestling with was introduced to us form outside of us. Jesus in no uncertain terms shuts this down real quick. The closest thing that we CAN say is the outside world provides opportunities for what is within us to “come into the light”… to come to the surface… to be revealed.

Jesus reaffirms this truth in many ways. For instance, he declares: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.” (Matt. 12:34,35) And again: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:43-45)

In life, when we are scared, angry, bitter, jealous, hopeless, frustrated, selfish, impatient, or any other emotion it is flowing up from within us! Jesus says as much! When a guy cuts me off in traffic and I become angry and bitter, it is tempting to think “this guy made me angry… he introduced and caused the anger I am experiencing right now with his driving.” The biblical truth is that the anger comes from within me… that it is already there… undercurrents and leftovers of my “old self” that are being brought to the surface by this occasion of a man cutting me off. James 1:20 says “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”. In this example, this anger - which is anti-fruit of the Spirit, and defiling me - comes for within me… not from the dude who cut me off! I need to hand it over to the Lord, repent of my anger, and rejoice that it has been taken from me… worked out of me… removed from me. Our hearts and bodies are described as being like “fountains” or “springs” in the scriptures, so in a way our lives are like a flowing river. (cf. Prov. 10:11, 13:14, 16:22, 18:4, etc.) each instance of garbage flowing down the river is an opportunity to have Christ fish it out… like a net in a river capturing the garbage that is coming down stream so the river can be made clean again!

The Lord loves us enough to not leave this “evil” within us. We are being made into new creations and a part of that process is bringing to the surface what is left within us that needs to be handed over… dealt with… surrendered to Christ. The real reasons that we quarrel, fight, and murder according the scriptures is: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” (James 4:1,2) Jesus puts his finger directly on this point… our flesh, passions, and desires within us lead us into words and actions that defile… not something outside of us! This truth actually works in BOTH directions. Seemingly “nice”, “spiritual”, “Christiany”, things outside of us cannot make us clean any more than things outside of us can “defile us”. To harken back to the water imagery: Jesus is transforming the spring itself… the source of the water… and making it something “sweet”… he is making it living water. He is doing this at the same time as straining out of the water any garbage that my be floating in it!

The closing words of Jesus in verses 20-23 are pretty sobering. The depth of wickedness that can come form within us is astounding. Praise God that he is making us new… giving us a new heart… a new “wanter”. He is purifying the well-spring of our life. As he said to the woman at the well, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (v. John 4:13) We need to stop blaming others for what defiles us. If we are experiencing “evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, or foolishness” it is coming form within us - the fault does not land outside of us. Praise God that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are willing to inhabit us… live within us… and transform us, purify us, redeem us, and renew us! This is the “good news” of the Kingdom of God! As long as we think the problem is “outside of us” then we will keep Jesus on the “outside”! As soon as we realize how deep thin us it truly is… we cry out for him to enter into our lives… into the deepest parts. Lord, lets us drink your living water, and have our hearts becomes springs of living water. May the over flow of our hearts - our words and deeds - be increasing more and more like you! Love you guys. - JDP