ON YOUR MARK: WEEK 7 DAY 4

Mark 7:20-23

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

I was once in a small village in a developing nation and in this particular village they had no running water, but there was a stream behind the hundreds of shanties built up along the hillside. I looked into the narrow valley and it was hard to imagine surviving there; it was a combination of trash, sewage, and wandering dogs sniffing through the piles that were lying in standing pools of greyish backend water. I found out that this dirty stream was also the primary source of water for the village and I understood why the people looked so sick.

If your heart is the source of your words and actions we should make sure our source is clean.  Go back through the list we read today in verses 21-22.  Are you allowing any of those things into your life? If so, you’re like that stream described earlier, instead of bringing life and health, disease and filth abound. Whatever you see coming out of your life is a result of what you're putting in it. Proverbs 4:23 says: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”