Bible Passage: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.” (Mark 7:20 NIV)
Scripture Reading: Mark 7:1-23
Have you ever tried washing your dirty hands after a long day’s work?
Years ago, I worked at a boat-building factory. At the end of every workday, I would go to the wash station and do my best to get my hands clean. But when I got home, my wife would be there to remind me how filthy I still was and send me to the shower.
The problem was I wasn’t just dirty on the outside.
I had been angry with God for the last 18 months because I didn’t want to be working in that factory at all. I wanted to be working in ministry, where “real” Kingdom-building things happened.
One day, while I was working on a boat, I was having an argument with God about my place in life. Of course, this was all happening inside me, so the others around me wouldn’t notice anything. But when my internal anger boiled over and showed up externally, my gasket blew as I told God that I wanted to be in a church and not in a factory.
When I caught my breath and went back to work, I heard the quiet voice of Jesus:
“How can I trust you with the Church if I can’t trust you with the guys around you right now?”
Those words struck my heart. The whole time I worked to look good on the outside, I ignored my heart on the inside. And Jesus knew it.
Our identity as men is often connected to what we do for work. But as Christian men, our identity needs to be connected to something far greater than our occupation.
When the Pharisees confronted Jesus in Mark 7, they pelted Him with the idea of what they thought their identity was based on: their traditions (their jobs and positions in life).
And how did Jesus respond?
By challenging those traditions and getting to the heart of the issue (literally).
“(Jesus) replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” (Mark 7:6-8)
That day in the factory, as I grabbed onto God’s perspective of my situation, I realized that no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I am doing Kingdom-building work. It’s a lesson I’ve had to learn a few times in life.
As Christian men, we need to make sure that our hearts are never far from Jesus so that our identity is not in the work we do, but in the work He has us there to do.
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for loving me. Help me keep my heart close to You so that my identity is more about You than about me. Amen.
Reflection: When you think about your identity, do you see Jesus coming through in who He says you are and what He’s called you to? What is something you can do to move your heart closer to His?
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