~ "the DARK side..."

He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” (Mark 7:20-23)

Did you ever try NOT to think of something? Trying to "put it out of your mind" or an "image that will stay with you" is sometimes an exercise in futility! The harder we try not to think about it or recall the image, the more present it becomes! Our sinful nature rears its ugly head yet again.

In these verses, we are told some of what I believe are the deadliest sins imaginable. These are the ones that corrupt our being to the point of fighting an uphill battle to keep them at bay! This is where the Holy Spirit comes in and helps us out!

Evil thoughts - "oh, I wish a piano would fall on their head". Sexual immorality - "it's okay, I love you". Theft - "they have plenty, they'll never miss one". Murder - self explanatory. Adultery - "my spouse doesn't love me". Greed - "I want it ALL!" Malice - "Kick Me!!!". Deceit - "call now, we only have a few left". Lewdness - "How about some fries to go with that shake". Envy - "why can't I be that important". Slander - "Well, I heard...". Arrogance - "I'm better at that than anyone". Folly - "I wanted to see what it felt like".

We all do it to some extent - it's part of being human. Some of us can add all of these to our vocabulary, while others only one of two. Some of us do these consistently, while others rarely. The point is, none of us are any better than anyone else! We are all equal in the eyes of God - the only difference is that some of us have chosen to profess our faith in him and follow Christ! And being "saved" doesn't mean you can go off and do whatever you please because you have a guaranteed ticket to enter the kingdom! We battle these demons each and every day. The thoughts that run through our heads are known to God! He sees and hears every thought we have!

God knew this! That is why he sent us a Savior - Jesus Christ! Without his death for our sins and resurrection to give us life again, we would be doomed to spend eternity in hell. We cannot ever be good enough, we can never measure up to the standard he set! We try and we constantly correct ourselves because we know that in the end, we will rest in his hands - the ones with the scars from some rather large nails! Remember to thank him today for that - without it, we'd be lost souls burning for all of eternity. Trust in him, let go of your doubts and become one with Jesus - he's real, he's alive and he loves us!


(photo by Celia Darrigo)