INNER PURITY VS OUTER PURITY
Those opposites ran through my head this morning as I read Mark 7. The context is Jesus being confronted by the Pharisees because His disciples could not/did not keep the cleanliness laws. Like Jesus was want to do, He turned the tables on them. Not by arguing cleanliness laws-although He did respond to that-but by turning the discussion away from outer purity to inward purity.
Oh, but first He got in His dig by quoting the prophet Isaiah to them about hypocrisy, about having all the rituals in line but the heart out of tune. “These people honor me with their lips, their hearts are far from me” is the way Isaiah put it. Jesus goes on to say, “You ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” (v.8)
But He doesn’t stop or ease up, because He goes on to talk about inner purity. “It’s from the heart,” He says, “where a man’s true character is revealed.” A person can have it all together outwardly, but inside is where it counts. “Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness” all come from within. (20-23)
This speaks volumes to me, to the church, to the culture. We may appear to have it all together outwardly, but inwardly I/we are a train wreck. I/we can have the outward show (church attendance, giving, carrying a Bible, raising our hands, etc) down pat, but our heart is a mess. We are seeing this more and more today. People who are outwardly righteous caught up in porn, addictions of various kinds, gambling, deception, greed, and other “hidden” sins. In Mt. 23 Jesus talked about the Pharisees having a clean outside cup but cruddy on the inside.
If I am going to have an impact on my world, my “circle,” I need to be the same on the inside and outside. No more playing religious games with pretend characters.
“Father, help me to be real.”
You have hit the nail on the head again, Bill. People can be fooled; God cannot. People look at the outside; God looks at the heart. I keep hearing the old praise song, “Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.”
Thanks Pam. I remember that old song. Does that date us? 🙂
Timeless, Bill! Not dated! 😁
😂😂
It all boils down to what we carry in our hearts. Great reflection this morning, Bill! Blessings!
You are right Martha. What I carry I exhibit.
Father, You see us as we are, help us to see the area of our hearts that are unclean as clearly as You see them. Open our eyes to the truth, do not let us deny ourselves and believe our own lies. Give us hearts that cry out like David did in Psalm 51, and ask to be restored, and given a clean heart to serve You with.
1Timothy 1:17
I ran out of room Gail to include the one Scripture you did: Psalm 51. I concur with your prayer since healing and forgiveness won’t happen until we open our eyes and see the truth.
Your post got me thinking this morning as it ties to an audio book I have been listening to. Really it is about self-evaluation as is pertains to the heart.
I don’t think it is our heart that is a mess necessarily… I think our flesh is a mess, but God created in us a new heart. The place in which His spirit dwells must be pure, otherwise He couldn’t dwell there.
I wonder if some of the struggles that I have faced over the years is the lie that
I am inherently “bad”. Sure, prior to salvation, I was born into sin. I lived by my flesh, by my own desires.
I don’t think we have to live in that lie anymore… I believe we are free from those chains. I believe Christ did create in me a new/pure heart… a temple in which He could live.
Jesus truly did flip the narrative here…. It is not what is on the outside that matters… i.e. what people see. It is the heart…
If we spend all our efforts trying to clean the outside of the vessel, the inside, the important side, the side in which God lives and the side of the literal vessel in which holds the contents of what will be consumed may not be clean.
That all said, I am in total agreement… lets take off the mask, let’s celebrate our new created heart and self… let us maintain and grow our relationship with Christ… and He will give us the strength, perseverance, desire, and will to deal with the outside… Not out of duty, but out of our love for Him…
Sorry if i high-jacked, but couldn’t stop… 🙂
You could kept on going Ryan! 🙂 I think you do bring up a good point. We have been given a new heart when we come to Christ. And yes, our flesh is a mess. Where we have trouble is when we don’t stop feeding that flesh and fail to fill ourselves with the truth of God’s Word. It is when we do that one thing that we begin to find victory over our fleshly mess. 🙂 Like you, I don’t live in that life anymore and I cannot thank God enough for His deliverance.