A Study on Love: Part XLV

Mack ate up some coins on Wednesday, so I didn't get to do the workout I wanted. So, I am doing that workout today. Rock on.Mark 7:14-23
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

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.' "

-What does this have to do with love? Well, it is rather simple. What is the opposite of sexual immortality? Purity. What is the opposite of evil thoughts? Godly thoughts. Opposite of deceit? Honesty. These things are the heavenly things. These things are the things that become expressions of love. That's important, since the evil things listed about are not expressions of love. And if they are not expressions of love, then they become expressions of a self-centered personality. The opposite of love, which is an outward focus, is selfishness, which is an inward focus. Johnny Out.