Purell may clean your hands, but it won’t clean your heart. Not even the giant bottle that Mark had on stage yesterday. Mark talked to us about “Jesus on Dirt” from Mark 7:1-23. Our problem is that we have 1) Dirty Hands, 2) Dirty Hearts, and 3) Dirty Lives.

The reason dirtiness is about more than germs is that what defiles a person comes from within — from hearts that are tainted and ruined by sin. It may seem to some peple that we are always talking about sin. True. We are. We do because God is holy. Sin is our biggest problem: God is opposed to everything that is unclean. He is not neutral. God is dangerous because he is holy and we are not. Theologian David Wells explains:

“The reason that God is separate, high, and lifted up is his consuming, burning purity. This is what makes him dangerous, and this is what the Israelites had to learn by hard experience, because this holiness was foundational to God’s entire working with them.” Wells, God in the Wasteland, 141.

If we take seriously the reality of remaining sin in our hearts, we’ll be wise to avoid saying, “I’ll never do that.” I think it was Calvin who said, “The seed of every known sin lies resident in my heart.”

But there is great news. Jesus Christ is a redeemer. Wherever you find sin in your heart, there is a Savior. If you have come to Christ for salvation, you can come to him again for forgiveness. And Christ is committed to transforming our motives from living for ourselves to living for Him.

Categories: Monday Matters, five15 blog