Let's draw out a vital lesson from today's devotional while reminding ourselves of the lessons we drew out of these chapters when we read them earlier in the year, April 9th to be precise. Back then, we spoke about being careful to not replace God's word with the traditions of men, and the important lesson of carrying our cross daily. Today, our focus is on how to maintain inner purity. In chapter 7, the Pharisees seemed to be equating hygiene to purity. We know this because personal and communual hygiene is the whole purpose of the law and tradition of washing hands. To equate it as defilement and a ground for stopping someone from approaching God in the temple is something else. Jesus said; "Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?
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Mark 7:17-18 NLT. Washing hands is about hygiene, "washing the heart" is about purity. "And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Mark 7:20-23 NLT. In other words, determine what is inside the heart, determine purity. If the heart is clean, the life will be pure. Halleluyah!
