Mark 7:14-23
Then Jesus called to the crowd to
come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand.
Your souls aren’t harmed by what you eat, but by what you think and
say!”
Then he went into a house to get away from the crowds, and
his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had just made.
“Don’t
you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that what you eat
won’t harm your soul? For food doesn’t come in contact with your heart,
but only passes through the digestive system.” (By saying this he showed
that every kind of food is kosher.)
And then he added, “It is
the thought-life that pollutes. For from within, out of men’s hearts,
come evil thoughts of lust, theft, murder, adultery, wanting what
belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, pride,
and all other folly. All these vile things come from within; they are
what pollute you and make you unfit for God.”
The
Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois
60188. All rights reserved.
There has been lots of
talk lately in the news about the “5-second rule.” Apparently, new
studies have been done (who pays for these things?!) to determine
whether food that is dropped on the floor is safe to eat, if picked up
within a certain amount of time - like five seconds. It turns out that
there are extenuating circumstances…particularly what type of floor
surface was involved and the specific food item in question.
The
bottom line is that it probably is NOT a good idea to eat food that has
fallen on the floor. However, we’ve all seen our kids do it before we
could get to them to stop this – and the children are still here! I’ve
been volunteering at the elementary school in Timothy and Zola’s
classrooms, and I have had to remind myself that children are
resilient…and they must have stomachs of iron! As they take turns
drinking from the water fountain…eating all sorts of things without
using hand sanitizer or washing their hands…and so much more, I try not
to think about what they are ingesting!
In a way, you could
maintain that we should be more worried about the knowledge and wisdom
our children internalize than the potential for a few germs to enter
their bodies as they eat their snacks and lunch – or quench their
thirst. And this is essentially the message that Jesus is giving to us
about our own daily living.
Too often, we are overly concerned
with the wrong things. We worry about what this one or that one is
thinking - or how he/she is living - but we don’t pay a bit of attention
to what is in the person’s heart. We condemn all sorts of behaviors
from others while demonstrating plenty of sins and “errors” of our own.
In The Message, verse 16 says, “It’s not what you swallow that pollutes
your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.”
So
let’s stop worrying so much about “appearances.” Let’s quit judging
others based on surface observations and things that really don’t matter
that much…ditch the name calling and overt criticisms…and stop acting
like we are better than the other guy because we call ourselves
Christians. Let’s take a long hard look at what is in our heart…and what
we present to others.
Are our words and actions polluted with
sin? Do we have our priorities in line with those of Jesus? Are we
focused on keeping the main thing the main thing? Are we more concerned with keeping up appearances and feeding the body…or feeding the heart and soul?
Jesus
is very clear that what we think and say – and how we treat others –
matters. Our thoughts, words and actions have lasting consequences. Are
you more worried about the Spiritual “5-second rule”…or spending Eternity in His
presence?
©2016 Debbie Robus
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