Mark 7
Living Inside-Out!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church. Today is Monday, April 27
When I was an athlete, we used to say, “Fake it ’til you make it!” If you are not feeling confident heading into a competition, then just fake it ’til you make it. Not amped up for a competition? Just listen to the right music and get the adrenaline going—muster it up, fake it ’til you make it. This was very much an outside-in approach to life.
Jesus teaches us a different way in Mark 7:14-15, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Jesus doesn’t want us to miss the point of life—the transformation of our souls to the glory of God. Jesus is not after us trying to be good boys and good girls conformed to the acceptable ways of the moral majority, but faithful disciples who follow Him in the narrow way.
Jesus is calling us to a new way of living, but not from the outside-in through worldly pride and performance nor through religious conformity to rules and customs of man-made traditions. Jesus calls us to live from the inside-out, where our hearts are made clean by the grace of God and His character and good works flow out of us because we have become vessels of glory. Good works flow out of our hearts because God’s Holy Spirit has made His Home in us.
Seize the moment and take time today to pay attention to what is coming out of your heart–in your thoughts, words, and deeds—especially when you are put under pressure or in hard circumstances. Often, it is our unplanned words and knee-jerk responses that will tell us the truth about ourselves.
FBC wants to be there for you personally, so please dial the phone number below if you need any practical assistance or would like to talk to someone today. We are praying for you!