GOD Morning! March 16 Boot Camp Day 11 / Despicable Me

GOD Morning!  March 16

Boot Camp Day 11

Despicable Me

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ After He called the people to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen [carefully] to Me, all of you, [hear] and understand [what I am saying]: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside a man [such as food] which by going into him can defile him [morally or spiritually]; but the things which come out of [the heart of] a man are what defile and dishonor him. ¹⁶ [“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ When Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples asked Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He said to them, “Are you, too, so foolish and lacking in understanding? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile and dishonor him,¹⁹ since it does not enter his heart, but [only] his stomach, and [from there it] is eliminated?” (By this, He declared all foods ceremonially clean.) ²⁰ And He said, “Whatever comes from [the heart of] a man, that is what defiles and dishonors him. ²¹ For from within, [that is] out the heart of men, come base and malevolent thoughts and schemes, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² acts of greed and covetousness, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained conduct, envy and jealousy, slander and profanity, arrogance and self-righteousness and foolishness (poor judgment). ²³ All these evil things [schemes and desires] come from within and defile and dishonor the man.”

This is hard for me to take in. Who, me??? The little church girl? I have malicious thoughts and schemes, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries, acts of greed and covetousness, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained conduct, envy, jealousy, slander, arrogance, self righteousness, and foolishness lurking inside of my heart just waiting for an opportunity to get out? Yes I do, as painful as it is to admit! I am feeling humiliated and embarrassed as I type it all out in plain sight.

Come on, admit it, you have gotten vivid pictures in your mind of something hateful you could do to someone who has “wronged” you.

This is exactly why I must scrub, scrub, scrub my heart out every morning and then every time, throughout the day, that an inappropriate thought pops into my mind out of nowhere. Out of nowhere? No. Right out of my heart. My little “Christian” heart.

“God help me! Thanks for reminding me that all of that unspeakable evil comes directly from my own heart. I can pretend it’s not there but that won’t help me at all. I must dig it out, stare it right in the face, and toss it directly into the garbage to be burned. Because if I keep it in my heart, I will be burned right along with it. O God I am begging You! Help me, a sinner saved by grace. I long to be pure and righteous! Only You can help me with this. Thank You, Dear Jesus. AMEN.”