Week 42: Inner Purity
Weekly Reading:
Mark 6 – Luke 3
Opening Prayer
Father God,
We praise you for your grace. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins and my sinful nature. I know that you see me, my heart. You know my thoughts. Father, help my motives to be pure. Watch over my heart and mind.
Amen
Study
In Jesus’s parables, we see over and over that Jesus is after our hearts.
We see the discussions with the Pharisees and teachers of religious law regarding the disciples and handwashing
“So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.” Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”
Mark 7:5-15 NLT
“And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Mark 7:20, 23 NLT
Jesus talks of inner purity, what is needed in our hearts. We stumble over the traditions and the rules and forget about what is most important, the motives of our hearts.
“Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Mark 12:29-31 NLT
In fact, Jesus tests those along the way. We can see the rich man who follows God’s command yet cannot lose himself to follow Jesus, his heart will not let him as the rich man values earthly possessions more than heavenly possessions (Mark 10:17 through 31).
On the other side of the coin, Jesus speaks of the widow who gave all she had to the Kingdom (Mark 12:41-44).
To remain good and faithful, Jesus instructs us to love God, love our neighbors and keep a pure heart.
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Philippians 4:8 NLT
Thinking about love, always remember:
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT
If our inner self is focused on a loving God, and loving one another, our minds will be pure; pure of thought, and pure of action. Because with love, all you can do is share the kingdom with others.
Closing Prayer
Father God,
Your loving hand is on us always. We pray for clean hearts and minds. Watch over us as we move forward with the week living and loving in You.
Amen
Homework
How will you show God’s love today?
