Posts with the tag “defilement”

What if the real problem is not out there but deep within us? In this exploration of Mark 7:1-23, we are confronted with one of the most searching questions our faith can ask: what actually defiles a person? Jesus cuts through the noise of religious performance and cultural blame-shifting to expose a truth that is as uncomfortable as it is liberating. The Pharisees believed that the right rituals and the right traditions could keep a person clean before God. We might smile at their rigidity, but if we are honest, we do the same thing. We trust our church attendance, our moral track record, our religious habits to establish our standing before God. Jesus dismantles all of that. He shows us that no external practice can fix an internal problem, and no external circumstance can corrupt what is already within us. The heart of the problem, he tells us plainly, is the heart itself. From within come evil thoughts, deceit, pride, envy, and more. This is not a comfortable message, but it is an honest one, and it opens the door to something far better than self-improvement. It opens the door to genuine transformation through the gospel.  Read More