Today’s Readings: Genesis 43-46; Mark 7:1-23
“…there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.”
Mark 7:15
I was a part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes when I was in high school. I didn’t cut it for very long (more because I stopped being as much of an athlete than because I stopped being a Christian), but there are some things that I remember well. One of them was the argument that teens shouldn’t drink – and nor should anyone else really – because it destructed our bodies as a temple of God’s creation. I thought it was somewhat bullshit at the time, and this teaching of Jesus’ kind of brings that home for me.
It is not what you put inside your body that matters…it is what comes out of it. Now granted, if you drink to the point of making an enormous ass out of yourself, you’re missing the point. Even so, it wasn’t the alcohol that was the problem. You were the one that drank too much and your altered state is not an excuse for your actions. It is not what you put inside you that matters, but what comes out of you afterwards.
