Feb 19, 2018 – Mark 7
Jesus said: “What
comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.'
For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts & behaviors…”
- Mark 7:20
Rules don't fix
hearts, only God can do that.
I grew up in a house that had many rules. Not too many (I don’t think), and not
actually wrong rules, but expectations of behavior nonetheless. One of them involved words we were not
allowed to say. You can probably guess
some of them, as my parents did not like foul language or cursing. But one that annoyed me was the rule against
the “f” word. NO – I’m not talking about
TODAY’S language! The “f” word in my
house was ‘fart’. J There were many other ways we could say
something about that body release of air – but ‘fart’ wasn’t permitted. So we were wise enough not to use the word in
our house, but I had no problem using it with friends in other
environments. Of course, that was until one
time I was not paying attention and accidently slipped saying it while laughing
at my brother, only to discover my mom was right behind me. Needless to say – that didn’t turn out so
good!!!
My mom was right, there are better words to use for some
things, but the rule didn’t really change my heart on it. In fact, the rule just highlighted my
attention to it! I needed the rule to
learn how to behave properly, but the rule also kept me focused on wanting to
use the word as well. The purpose of the
rule was to help me keep a clean mouth, but ended up exposing how easy it is to
develop a dirty mouth of hot air (no pun intended!).
We need rules, but they don’t change hearts. I support them because they help us define
proper behavior so we can live together well.
But thinking that we will be able to change people through rules or laws
has already been proven ineffective. The
only fix to the heart is from the Spirit of God, not from behavioral
rules. What we need is a personal
relationship inside our heart with the Holy God who loves us, that changes our
beliefs, so that we are excited pursuing behavior He requests.
In our day, we see culture trying to go the other
direction. Since rules are not fixing
behavior, just throw out the rules.
While that may be a logical argument (maybe?), it lacks effectiveness as
well. If the heart was unclean before
knowing the standard, it will be downright evil without one. We still need a standard – and praise God we
have one in Jesus! He is both our
Standard AND our Spirit! He can fix the
heart as our Savior, and direct the behavior as our Lord. But the only way that happens is by starting
with Jesus in our hearts.
That’s why trying to teach people who don’t know Jesus how
to behave is rather pointless. They may
buy the logic for some things, but the next generation will question the rules,
just like I did with my mom’s rules on proper language. What every generation needs is to meet and
know Jesus first, THEN discover the behavioral expectations He has for us. We must first be baptized into Christ before
learning how to behave like Christ.
Belief drives our behavior.
So be cautious with the rules of your home. They are necessary, but what is more needed
is a relationship with the Standard & the Spirit in Jesus. Grow that relationship in your home, and the
rules will take care of themselves.
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