Heart Issues: Part 4

And He said, What comes out of a man is what makes a man unclean and renders [him] unhallowed. For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, Coveting (a greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive wickedness, deceit; unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy), slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride (the sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness). All these evil [purposes and desires] come from within, and they make the man unclean and render him unhallowed. (Mark 7:20‭-‬23 AMPC)

• We as human beings have heart problems. It is a heart issue not necessarily or merely a human issue. We are all unique and we all have unique heart problems.
• Notice, all evil thoughts come from within (…’ from the hearts of men…’), not from without. What you think about matters. Evil thoughts and desires are those which make us unclean. The soulical realm is the realm of thought and feeling. Greed starts with a thought. Covetousness starts with a thought. Sexual immorality starts with a thought. Deceit starts with a thought. Envy starts with a thought.
• On the flip side, all good thoughts start from within as well. Our job is to think about these good things.

For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them]. (Philippians 4:8 AMPC)

• Evil does not come from without, it comes from within. That statement alone should scare the hell out of you. Why? You are a dangerous creature, so is everyone around you. You are capable of inflicting pain (physical and emotional) on another human being (on the flip side you are also capable of healing the people around you). Because, of all the evil things that happen in this world, you’re also culpable (to some extent) of the current chaotic state of the world in a sense and capable of spreading more of that chaos in it, still. You’re probably not all that you can be. So, you are part of the problem and part of the reason why the world is not as good as it could be. That is a hard pill to swallow. All have fallen short of God’s glory.