From Within Comes Defilement

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 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." 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 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, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 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 have to admit, I like food.  Sometimes I like food just a tad bit too much, but that's a tale for another day.   The Jewish folks had lots of dietary restrictions which God put into place for them.   And God had made it clear eat them, be unclean.  This was something the disciples (of Jewish birth) had to unlearn as we see from this passage in Mark 4.   Food can't defile you or make you unclean it's just food.  Goes in, goes out.

A more important lesson needed to be learned.

What defiles a person is what comes out of them.

Out of the heart comes the following

• evil thoughts
• sexual immorality
• theft
• murder
• adultery
• coveting
• wickedness
• deceit
• sensuality
  
• envy
• slander
• pride
• foolishness

By no means an exhaustive list, but a thorough list none-the-less.   It's the heart that shows our naturally evil ways.   And God calls us from following our hearts' natural leanings.  He gives us a new heart and new understanding, and this is why we war with ourselves you know.   Do we follow our new heart (the one God gives us, guided by the Holy Spirit, paid for by his Son) or do we follow our sin-filled old heart?   

As a believer we know what we aught to do.
This passage is a reminder to us to pay attention to that! 
Seriously.

Lately I've been struggling with inadequacy and doubts about faith and life and so much other 'garbage'.   That's my old life talking you know.  The one where I'm depending on myself and not on God.  And I know it's a struggle... but I need to remember, I need to use that which God has given me, to remember that I am called to more.  I am called away from that old stuff and into something new.   Just like I try to eat better (and that's a whole DIFFERENT struggle) and I can learn to think better to.  To not be ruled by my old heart, but to keep seeing the new and ALL the possibilities that lay therein.    God calls me away from that defilement.  God makes me aware of that (just as Jesus made the disciples aware).

What say you?