As I began to live more and more from the heart that Jesus gives me, I discovered that he had already poured his love into my heart. I needed others, compassionate, wise listeners, to help me begin to notice and listen to that love that dwelt deep within me. I began to accept that my very basic human needs for safety and security, affirmation and affection, power and control were not inherently bad yet my strategies for getting them met apart from God polluted my life, diminished my freedom and hurt others in the process.
I notice that my actions and way of being in the world is very different if I am motivated by love and grace rather than fear and shame. Jesus invites me to look at the motivation within my heart with him and simply notice what is there. And if I linger there a while with him, I discover his tender gaze upon me regardless of what is found. This gaze of love and grace meets any fear and shame with kindness, compassion, and gentleness and I am changed in the process.
May you discover the tender gaze of Jesus as together you look within your heart this day.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (The Message)
The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around him. They noticed that some of his disciples weren’t being careful with ritual washings before meals. The Pharisees—Jews in general, in fact—would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual hand-washing, with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from the market (to say nothing of the scourings they’d give jugs and pots and pans).
The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, “Why do your disciples brush off the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?”
Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:
These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they are worshiping me, but they don’t mean it.
They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy,
Ditching God’s command and taking up the latest fads.”
Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.”
He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.”
For Reflection and Prayer:
Was there a word, a phrase, image, or feeling that ‘shimmered’ as you listened? Allow it to land in your heart. Stay with it. Savor it.
Reflect on what you heard. What effect does it have on you? What meaning does it hold for you? What does the Holy Spirit seem to be conveying to you? Talk it over in your prayer. Perhaps you want to draw or color your prayer or journal the conversation.
As the time of prayer comes to a close, share some moments of quiet with Jesus, simply resting safely in his presence.
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