Mark 7: Defiled

Today’s reading is Mark 7.

Another controversy around eating arises. It certainly seems our generation is not the first to fixate on food and eating. Back in Mark 2:13-17, Jesus ate with the wrong people. In Mark 2:18-22, the disciples ate when expected to fast. In Mark 2:23-28, they ate on the wrong day. Now, in Mark 7:1-23, they do not perform the appropriate ablutions and rituals in preparation to eat. What if they had touched something unclean in the marketplace? If they made their food unclean with unclean hands, they would internalize the uncleanness. And if they were unclean on the inside, what could they possibly do to be made clean?

But Jesus turns the whole thing on its head. Cleanliness and uncleanliness don’t start on the outside. What we eat will not make us either clean or unclean. (Can we make a side note about how even in our modern day we fixate on eating and use moral terms like “clean eating”?) Cleanliness and uncleanliness start on the inside, in the heart. What comes out of the person defiles the person. Evil actions grow from evil thoughts and fantasies. In other words, the people are already unclean on the inside. That’s the problem.

We need to protect our hearts with the breastplate of righteousness and our minds with the helmet of salvation (see Ephesians 6:14-18). We need to guard our hearts because our lives flow from our hearts (see Proverbs 4:23). We need to meditate on what is true, honorable, just, excellent, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise (see Philippians 4:8). We must destroy arguments and lofty opinions, taking our thoughts captive to obey Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:5).

I think I know why their generation (and ours) fixated so much on clean eating. It is so much easier than clean thinking and clean behaving. If we focus on clean eating, we might well think we can handle that. If we focus on clean thinking and clean behaving, we will come to realize we have only one hope. This Jesus who cast out unclean spirits, drove away unclean sicknesses, and forgave unclean sins is our only hope for cleanliness. Only Jesus can refresh our hearts and renew our minds.

Of course, let us not merely think we are talking about some kind of judicial cleanness. We must be concerned with real cleanness. If we don’t care about actual cleanness, but simply hope to be declared clean while languishing in unclean thoughts and behaviors, we will have missed the plot and the cleansing.

Do you want to be clean? Then guard your heart and let your guarded heart plan your steps. But know you’ll only accomplish it through the power of Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 7.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Mark 7 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Psalm 60: Standing on the Promises

Today’s reading is Psalm 60.

David’s psalm begins with great lament over an awful defeat. However, the final lines envision a coming terrific victory by the power of God. David moves from claiming God has not gone out with his armies to believing his armies will do valiantly by the strength of God. What prompted the shift?

The hinge, I think, comes in vss. 6-8. The geographical markers mean more than David knew his maps. Shechem and Succoth in vs. 6 are particularly important. In Genesis 33, Jacob traveled back to the Promised Land from his time serving Laban. However, he feared his brother Esau (the father of the Edomites) might still want vengeance over the stolen blessing from years earlier. Instead of attacking and destroying Jacob and family, Esau welcomed Jacob into the land and actually moved out of his way. In Genesis 33:17-18, the two places mentioned to which Jacob traveled were Shechem and Succoth. In other words, David recalls an ancient time when Israel faced defeat from Edom (Esau). God made room for them because God keeps His covenants and promises. David is standing on the promise of God in this prayer.

The statement that God would divide and portion the land also calls God’s promises to mind. In Joshua, God promised the land to Israel and claimed He would divide and apportion it to the various tribes. All that land was His and He was giving it to Abraham’s offspring. Gilead, on the east of the Jordan, was God’s. However, He had promised it to Israel. Manasseh’s land, found on both sides of the river, was God’s. However, He had promised it to Israel. Ephraim and Judah, the two main tribes on the west of the Jordan, were God’s. However, He had promised it to Israel. These lands belonged to tribes of Israel because God had promised that land to Abraham’s descendants. David knew God would not simply give Abraham’s land to other nations. In fact, he knew Moab, Philistia, and Edom actually belonged to Israel’s God as well. David is standing on God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when he asks God to go with his armies.

We today should stand on God’s promises in our prayers. Learn what God has promised. Even when it seems those promises are not being fulfilled, stand on them, pray for them. Then watch them come to pass.

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 60.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 60 provide or increase your trust in God?