Daily Walk Through the New Testament May 30 Read Mark 7:14-37 Are you aware of what’s in your heart? The prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus echoed this in Mark 7:1-23, teaching that defilement comes from within. The Pharisees professed to have righteous hearts, but Jesus, like a skilled physician reporting to a patient about an unfavorable x-ray, said their hearts were not healthy. He said their hearts were sick, even contaminated. More than that, their hearts were far from God and outright evil! That wasn’t a report they enjoyed receiving! You can be sure that any or all of the things listed in (vs. 21-22) are capable of rising up in our own hearts. But the Pharisees did not see the deadly enemy lurking within. Martin Luther once said, “I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the greatest pope, self.” Our self-righteousness will always condemn us. Human goodness will never be good enough. The heart must be under constant surveillance (Proverbs 4:23). We must daily ask Jesus to search and cleanse our hearts. We have His faithful promise that He will make our hearts clean: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Give the Lord praise for cleansing your heart. Ask Him to keep your heart close to Him. Pray for others that their hearts would be converted by Christ’s transforming power.