Monday, July 21, 2008
Mark 7:21 " . . . out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts . . . and make a man 'unclean.'"
THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM
When people first started noticing Tammy Gobin's odor she figured it wasn't her. Maybe ripe garbage was nearby. Maybe she had stepped in something. But the looks kept coming.
Tammy couldn't wash her smell away or perfume over it, no matter how much she tried. It was coming from inside her.
Tammy eventually found out that she has a rare disorder called Trimethylaminuria (TMAU). Her body can't process Choline, a chemical found in common foods like milk, eggs, and fish. As a result, she emits an odor like rotten garbage.
There is no exercise regiment, no prescription drug, and no therapy that will make Tammy's body work properly. She can't remove her digestive system in order to escape the source of her smell.
I don't have TMAU, but I have a similar condition -- and so do you. Jesus spoke about this condition in the passage above. Our condition offends people, but more tragically, it makes us completely unacceptable to God, "unclean" to Him. Our condition? A heart, rotten from the core.
We can't blame others for what we do or what we fail to do. We can't really mask the rot with the perfume of kindness and love. We can't amputate the source of our problem, since our problem permeates the very core of our being.
The heart of the problem is our sinful heart. And it is here that Jesus works. First, through His own suffering and death He removes the stench of our sin from the Father's nostrils. Then He gives us a new heart through faith in Him. Lastly, when He finally draws us into heaven He will surgically remove the rotten old heart that clings to us in this life.
Dear Christians, you have wicked hearts. But you also have new hearts through faith in Christ. Keep listening to the Holy Spirit's Word so that those new hearts keep beating. And thank Jesus today, for fixing the heart of your problem -- your heart.
