20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
What Causes Man’s Trouble
The answer to modern psychology as to the cause of man’s ‘issues,” is probably found in the above passage by Jesus. The seventh chapter of Mark starts with the religious leaders of the day challenging Jesus about his disciples eating food without washing their hands. This seems so trivial to life. But, religious leadership (not faith based leadership) is often only concerned about outward appearance and outward behaviors. This is Jesus’ point. It is not eating with dirty hands that defile you (putting something into your stomach). It is the heart of man that produces these behaviors. Psychologist often want to find a way to cure the behavior, excuse the behavior or modify the behavior without addressing the real issue behind the behavior: Man has a sin nature. That is what Jesus came to correct. We have to have something to deal with our sin nature, not just our acts of sin. Psychology often wants to correct the acts without addressing the nature of man, that causes the acts. That is what the Gospel does. Jesus came and provided the cure for our sin nature: Redemption on the cross. That provides us with Justification ... God was satisfied by Jesus’ payment for our sins and we were declared “just” and “right” before God. We now have “peace” with God (Romans 5:1). That allows us to begin to heal from the inside out. Our entire being is changed with the Gospel. Yes, our sin acts are forgiven. But, more than that, our nature was changed:
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV Strong's)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
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