Keep Sight of Jesus at All Times

Jews used to believe that consuming or touching the unclean would defile them, but they paid little attention to what was inside of them. Jesus flips the script on them to say, “‘Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them’ . . . He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person’ ” (Mark 7:19, 20-23, NIV). People were used to pointing out evil around them, but they weren’t used to pointing to the source of that evil: their own hearts. We can point to the sexual immorality all around us and try to run, but we will find that we have no where to go. It’s everywhere. Why? Because it’s in our hearts. The sexual immorality we see around us is a result of our hardened, rebellious, broken hearts. While habits and behavioral changes can sometimes impact our hearts, it can be like taking Tylenol for a severe injury. You may be able to lessen the pain, but the injury still remains. Changing behavior and habits can lessen the temptation, but the lust still has a grip on your heart. So, how do we get a heart transformation? Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (NLT). We know that Christ gives us a new life—and this transformation begins in the heart. While this is a glorious truth, we still struggle with sin on a daily basis. Paul speaks to this specifically in Romans 8, he reminds us that we are no longer controlled by our sinful nature: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (8:12-13, NIV). Christ has given us a new heart; and while we may have an inclination to return to our old ways of living, we can trust in Christ to renew our transformed hearts in his grace each day. Reflection/Discussion Question: What does it actually look like to trust in Christ’s grace to transform your heart?

It’s our human nature to want to be right, understood, heard, or correct. In most of our conversations or arguments, we are constantly preparing responses in our heads, pointing out flaws in the other person’s thinking, gearing up our defenses, and doing whatever we can to come out on the “right” side. A man may argue with his wife in an attempt to be right, but if it ends with her in tears and even greater distance between the two, then being right didn’t matter at all. Our desire to be correct comes from a place of pride, rather than compassion. When we switch our focus from being correct to being compassionate, it changes the way we approach conversations. Instead of speaking the truth out of anger, bitterness, resentment, or pride we speak out of love and compassion. It’s easy to speak out of anger and bitterness because we find ourselves saying the words that have been stirring in our minds for some time. It’s a lot more difficult to speak from a heart of love and compassion for the other person. To speak in compassion is to rely on the God of compassion, rather than our own strength or wisdom. Pride cares only for itself, but compassion cares for the other person. The two cannot coexist, so we will always choose one when we enter into conversations with our brothers and sisters. Jesus, on the other hand, always chose compassion. He spoke hard truth, but he did it out of deep love for his people and trust in God that the truth would ultimately be transformative. We must ask ourselves whether we can have that same trust in God when we choose to be compassionate over being correct when offering truth. Reflection/Discussion Question: What is most difficult about choosing to be compassionate over being correct?