Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and they defile a person.
*I would easily look at this list and think “Oh wow, I haven’t been sexually immoral, I haven’t murdered anyone, I haven’t robbed a bank, so those things must not be in me.” But this verse says that’s not true. All of those things are in me, whether I have shown restraint and not killed anyone or not. The heart in me is what separates me from God. It’s not as if I sin and am therefore a sinner; I am a sinner, and therefore I sin.
That whole grocery list is what the heart is. My heart is what defiles me.
Hmm. You know, if you really think about it, all of those things are rooted in selfishness.
Evil Thoughts= Thinking harm upon someone for either their detriment or my gain.
Sexual Immorality= Personal Pleasure or the ruination of the other person involved.
Theft= Taking what it not mine.
Murder= Removing someone who gets in my way.
Adultery= Conquering/Winning while harming another.
Coveting= Wanting what is not mine.
Wickedness= A life lived without restraint/never saying “No” to your instincts.
Deceit= The protecting of one’s image/ the means of not bringing harm to one’s self.
Sensuality= Personal Pleasure.
Envy= Dislike of someone’s good fortune or blessing.
Slander= The degrading of someone with your words.
Pride= The overly high opinion of yourself and your abilities.
Foolishness= The confidence in your own wisdom.
*Self*
All of those things are about SELF and the preservation of it.
The heart says, “ME, me, ME and I don’t care who I have to trample for me to be on top, just so long as I am not the one paying the penalty and no harm is done to me.”
I think it was Darwin who coined the phrase “Survival of the Fittest,” and while I don’t agree or believe in his theories, I will give him that. He was right about that. Left to our own devices we will take out whatever hinders us without regard for others, just so long as we benefit. We are born with huge killer instinct. Whether we fall more into Fight or Flight, it’s all about us. It’s about keeping our existence in tact.
Where Darwin was NOT correct, however, and this is why his overall theory doesn’t hold water, was that he didn’t take into consideration that we haven’t been left to our own devices. He did not factor in 2 things:
1. God
2. We, as humans, were made in that image and therefore are not animals. We, unlike all other mammals and species or whatever kind, have an eternal soul. And God didn’t leave that eternal soul alone.
Darwin didn’t factor in Christianity in his theory. He factored-in, albeit unknowingly or un-admittedly, the sin nature, but He didn’t factor in Jesus. He didn’t factor in the followers of Jesus: the ones who have died to self; the ones killing their killer instinct.
It all makes me wonder where the Christians were in Darwin’s life. Would his perspective have been different if he had known some without the killer instinct? Without the survival mentality? What if he had been closely associated with those who crucify the flesh SO THAT they will find true life and can then impart that to others?
Or maybe he did know Christians, but maybe the devil had him very insulated so that he could do the work he did and be completely unaffected by us. Maybe the veil on him was so thick that he couldn’t see. I have no idea. This is all speculation. This is all just thought.
But I wonder how many people and atheists and scientists and whoever I turn away because they don’t see any difference in me? What if I am confirmation to their “survival of the fittest/we are all out for number one” theory rather than a banner that waves “It’s not about me”? What if my life doesn’t cause them to think, “Well she isn’t like all the rest.” What if my life doesn’t cause a catch in their thinking, what if I am not a fly in their ointment, what if I am not the variation to the theory? But I should be. Because that is the truth I claim. I should be.
It reminds me of that scene in the movie Valkyrie with Tom Cruise. When the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler was foiled and Tom’s character, who played a German general who was opposed to the Nazi’s, was about to be put to death, he was asked by a pro-Nazi general, “Why did you try this? Even if you knew you might fail and you would be executed, why did you try to kill Hitler?” Tom looks this Nazi straight in the eye and says:
Because the world has to know that we’re not all like him.
Isn’t that crazy?
As a Christian, I need to live my life---life without the killer instinct---with the motto:
Because the world has to know we’re not all still killers.
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