And he called the people to him again and said to them, "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." And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, " What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All of these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
- Mark 7:14-23
Wow! That is a long list of evil things that come out of a man's heart, our heart. Jesus says that It is not the outside things coming in that defile us, but our own heart and what comes out from it. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick..."
BUT... we are not without hope! Through the work of Christ on the cross, our hearts can be transformed. When we humbly surrender our lives to Christ, he can and will create in us a clean heart, a heart that is no longer desperately sick but is alive with Christ.
The importance of our heart is clear in the Bible. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." The state of our heart is what will determine how we live.
Lord,
Help us to guard our hearts today. Please purify our hearts. Teach us your Truth that we may faithfully cling to it and live by it. Daily sanctify us and transform our hearts.
Amen