From Inside

For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill, commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly— all these evil things come from inside you and make you unclean.” Mark 7:21-23

This was part of the Scripture reading from my devotional study today. The devotion was talking about how we need God’s grace because we are so fickle in our relationship to Him.

As I wrote out this passage, I thought about how much we try to blame outside things for our problems and sin. The first that comes to mind is “The Devil made me do it.” Well as believers, the devil is not inside of us. He does not control us. He only has the influence we open up to him; so for Christians that excuse has to go out the door, if we believe these words of Jesus.

The other excuse I thought of is how, at least my parents, blamed my actions on those I was with. The Bible does tell us bad company crops good character. Which I don’t deny, but again it is not our friends that get inside of us. Is the bad things that we choose to allow inside of us that are the problem. Again they can influence us but they don’t control us to sin.

We take in things through our five senses. It’s how we experience the world around us. It is what we choose to internalize, what we meditate on, what we allow to become part of who we are, that drives us to sin. It is the envy, jealousy, and covetousness that drive some one to rob. They want what they cannot have. They internalize that until it becomes a controlling desire instead of 1) asking for it or 2) developing a plan to get it (like work to save for it) or 3) being content with what they have.

Killing may have many controlling factors all of which come from speculation like unmet needs, revenge, depravity of soul. It is something that has taken root in a life. In the Bible, David was a killer he fought in many battles and killed tens of thousands. When he was given the opportunity to murder King Saul, he said no and wouldn’t allow his men to either. Yet, it was his unconfessed guilt and uncontrolled desire that led him to plot the murder of Uriah.

Committing adultery does not just happen. There’s generally some behaviors, physically flirting or emotional vulnerability with the opposite sex that leads to the actual act. It is not the skimpy clothes, the animal instinct, the well-built man or the seductive eyes. It is what we continue to think about until it becomes a controlling desire.

Being greedy is not a being content with what you have. The desire to have more, whatever the cost, is plotted and planned until it consumes a person. The money, success or fame it is the love we elevate money to in our heart and mind. We allow it to become our god.

Evil things may start out in the world, but it is what we allow to get inside of us that allows sin to come out of us. I think that is why the saying “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil (and do no evil)” is true. If we don’t open the gateway for evil to get in ,then our flesh won’t have a way or reason for it to come out. As believers we have Holy Spirit within us. We can allow Him to come out of us instead of sin.

Lord, thank You for this clear picture of the importance of what I allow into my life because it is what I meditate on that flows out of my life. Holy Spirit You are the living water I want to flow through my life. In Jesus name Amen