Fit to Worship

And he went on to say, "It is what comes out of you that makes you unclean.

For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill, commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly- Mark 7: 20-22 (GNB)

All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God-Mark 7: 23 (CEV)

   

     The controversy that led to this teaching by the Lord is from the law concerning outward cleansing which the Pharisees pointed out that His disciples did not obey before eating. Hence, claiming that the food will make them unclean before God. A closer look will quickly decipher that a constant to all mankind is the desire to be clean before God. Man will do everything he can, to be clean before God. It is a quiet cry of every heart to be at peace with the Maker, though many, unfortunately, deny this fact. Man believes that his physical activities can make him stand clean before a Holy God, what a deception! We often presume that our tact, panache and rituals can guarantee us a clean standing in His Presence. That is to say cleanliness from outside to inside. This can at best make us to “honor Him with our words, while  our hearts are really far away from Him”-Mark 7: 6 (paraphrased).Unfortunately, this trend has continued even to our days. In response to this, Jesus said, "it is what comes out of you that makes you unclean. For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil desires.......".Our heart is the center of our personality, whatever we project on the outside is a reflection of what we have first become on the inside. Our inside controls our outside, not the other way round. God is a Spirit and cannot be deceived by our rituals. He judges us from who we are on the inside rather than who we are on the outside. Jesus said in essence that every negative attitude we exhibit is first of all an evil idea which comes from the heart. This is an excellent diagnosis that cannot be faulted. Ideas are mental images of what we expect. Therefore, when we are busy painting the image in our hearts, God already knows and that makes us unfit to worship Him. The problem is that many are busy hacking at the branches of the real problem of man, while a few are the ones striking at the root. We cannot assume to be fit just by mere physical man-made rituals when we all know about the riots going on in our hearts. We all know about the carefulness we take to appear impeccable even after perpetrating the worst of all crimes. The only person we can deceive is man, not God. Already, we stand disqualified by mere trying to appear clean when we should be crying out for mercy, no wonder many of us come to God's presence and go back without His loving touch.(Luk 18: 9-14).God wants to reach our hearts and change it, for until we are changed from the inside we can never experience the freedom we so much long for. Only a change, not amendment, of heart can suffice for this malady. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

     That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God-Ezek. 11: 19-20(KJV).God's prescription for our woe is a change of heart. It is the only panacea to be fit to worship Him. However, because of the strongholds already existing in our hearts, it is often difficult to subscribe for this divine surgery. But how long can we hold up if we really want to be fit for this worship? It doesn't matter how long or how much we put in our rituals, it can never make us clean before Him, because "....we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags;..."(Isa 64:6).God's verdict cannot be changed, it is us that must be changed. Until our hearts are changed by the Lord, the best we can do is but a lip service. Men can applaud us but, heaven does not recognize such worship.

I pray that the Lord will give you this change as you give up your heart for His surgery. God bless you.