When I came back from a trip to Africa I brought something back with me that I definitely did not intend on returning home with as a souvenir. This something was a parasite. I was so sick for weeks and lost weight. This illness would come and go without warning. There were days that I was fine, and then all of a sudden I would break out in sweats with horrific cramps.
When I read Mark 7:17-23, I thought about the parasite that I had in my body.
“7 Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. The followers asked Jesus about what he had told the people. 18 He said, “Do you still have trouble understanding? Surely you know that nothing that enters the mouth from the outside can make people unacceptable to God. 19 Food does not go into a person’s mind. It goes into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant there is no food that is wrong for people to eat.)
He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.”
Even though I possibly did eat something that contaminated my body, these verses made me think about how much worse the sin in our lives is.
Yes, the illness finally left my body. But the real “illness” is the sin that is in our hearts and starts with our minds. It is so much worse than that pesky parasite from Africa.
Don’t be tainted by the sin in your life. Confess it. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Stay away from those things that can contaminate your mind. You know the children’s song…”O be careful little eyes, ears, tongue…..for the Father up above is looking down in love…” 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, “Don’t stop the work of the Holy Spirit. 20 Don’t treat prophecy like something that is not important. 21 But test everything. Keep what is good, 22 and stay away from everything that is evil.”
Just like the doctor treated me for my parasite, allow The Great Physician to treat you and make you whole. Prescription….pray, read the bible, and apply it daily.
Blessings to you.
