Our sin issues are inside of us

 February 9, Wednesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 Kings 10:1-10 & Mark 7:14-23

Jesus is instructing the crowd again. He asserts that what enters a person is not what defiles them. Instead, it is what a person produces that can potentially contaminate it. Nothing that binds us together makes us sin, but what comes out of us does.

Our problems are cardiovascular. Our issues are not external but rather internal. The issue is not external to you but internal to you. Not everyone else is at fault. The point is that you exist. Our sin problems are not the result of our spouses, friends, parents, children, coworkers, or employers. External actions are not the cause of the problem; they are merely symptoms. The issue originates in the heart.

These are heart issues: rage, lust, malice, greed, deception, and pride. These vices originate from within and defile a person (Mark 7:23). We do not love Jesus sufficiently, and as a result, we seek to satisfy our desires in sinful ways. We do not desire what God gives us to satiate these desires. We want to bypass these desires for the flesh in favor of the spirit God has bestowed upon us.

As a result, we must exercise caution and discernment in our actions. If we believe that our efforts will cause us to sin, we should abstain from them entirely.

The sin issue is that it will never cease until we perish. If we are faced with a strong temptation to sin, we should flee before it captures us. For instance, in the sin of adultery, couples would continue their adulterous relationship until they were apprehended.

Even when we are aware that what we are doing is sinful, we agree to do it. Why? The simple answer is that many of us prefer the devil to Jesus.

When you choose to be with the devil, you will eventually be destroyed by him. However, if you decide to walk away from it and follow Jesus, Jesus will not stop until he has cleansed you of all sinfulness.