Mark 7:20-23 (NASBStr)
And He was saying, “ That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
What's in the well comes up in the bucket! If we are not careful, our society might lead us into the wrong direction in regard to spirituality and food intake. In the Old Testament God had some tough regulations about what they could and could not eat. Some of he laws had a real safety issue intertwine with them (due to a lack of refrigeration during that time). God had commanded them NOT to eat certain food. Today, our society is trying to regulate our consumption due to "spiritual" laws of their own. And, although it is always right to eat healthy (who determines that definition?) Jesus here gives us a great lesson to learn. He is telling us that it is not the intake that defiles us and disqualifies us for righteousness (which is what the Pharisees in the chapter were talking about). Jesus is telling us that what comes out of our hearts defiles us. Man's evilness is in his heart prior to what he eats. Envy comes from a desire to have something we are not supposed to have and that simply in in our heart due to the sin of Adam being passed down to us. We can get very Pharisaical by wanting to "check" what others eat or do. We tend to put "spiritual" significance to their choices in life and want to condemn them as "unjust" for those choices (smoking, chewing, drinking, etc). Yet, those actions (although deemed unhealthy by someone) do not disqualify the person to God. Don't mistake good and healthy (?) decisions and life styles for a spiritual walk with God. What comes out of our heart determines our spirituality and walk with God, not what goes into our mouth.
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