14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” 17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “So, are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters not the heart but the stomach and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Prayer Focus: Once again, the disciples do not understand what Jesus is saying. So often we use external things – skin color, clothing, accent, language, etc. – to declare what is clean or unclean; what is acceptable or unacceptable. Jesus is concerned with the heart. What emerges from a person’s heart and spirit that leads to faithful or unfaithful living. Pray for your eyes to see beyond the surface today. Pray for your heart that it might lead to a life of faith today.
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