Not in the Heart But into the Belly - Mark 7:19

Mark wrote when Jesus, “entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable” about what defiles a man. “He said unto them, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without enters into the man, it cannot defile him”, and in chapter seven and verse nineteen of his book, Mark wrote Jesus told His disciples, “because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly” where we read:

Because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly,

and goes out into the draught, purging all meats?

The verse reads, “Because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly, ...” Mark began with the word, “because” which means “since and on account that” “it enters not” or “what is outside a man does not come or make entrance” “into his heart” which means “into the person's soul or mind as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes and endeavors”, “but into the belly” or “except in the person's stomach”. Mark shared how Jesus referred to “external” things entering into the “stomach” of a person's body and not into their “soul”.

The verse continues, “... and goes out into the draught, purging all meats?” Mark added the words, “and goes out” which means “and proceeds and goes forth” “into the draught” or “to the place where the human waste discharges and is dumped”, “purging all meats” which means “making clean, cleansing and purifying each, every, the whole and everyone of the food and victuals that are eaten”? Mark shared how “food “ that is eaten proceeds through the body and is discharged.

When we meditate upon Mark's words in this verse, we see how Jesus referred to the “eating cycle” for people. They eat external things, the body consumes the nutrients from the food, and they discharge the waste. None of these “outward foods” go into the “soul” of a person. Jesus knew what people are like inside their souls, and in order for them to be “saved” it took a “Savior” from within. Jesus Christ was sent to this world to “die” for the “sins” of every person, and when they yield to Him as their personal “Savior and Lord”, they shall find that He cleanses a person from within, and discharges everything that is unlike Him.

Next time Mark shares how Jesus explains to His disciples, “that which comes out of the man, that defiles the man”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".