Inside The Heart Of An Apple

I'm not invested in watching that much television anymore. If I do watch anything it's programs like National Geographic, Animal Planet, or DYI shows. The other day I was watching an interesting program about earthworms. What I found fascinating is that they are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sex organs. Fascinated by all the information I continued watching as the narrator exhausted everything there was to say about different species of worms. He then asked the question "Have you ever wondered how a worm gets inside of an apple?" I was, so I listened intently as he went on, "If you think that the worm burrows in the apple from the outside, you'd be wrong," he said. He explained that scientists have discovered that the worm comes from the inside of the apple. I no sooner thought to myself how is that possible that he answered, "Female apple maggot flies find a sweet-smelling apple that is ripening and lands on it. Using a small, sharp, hollow tube on the underside of her body, the fly stabs a small hole in the fruit. Then she releases her eggs, which slide down that hollow tube into the apple." **I wonder how many apples I've bitten into that had eggs I knew nothing about?** YUCK! But I digress.

Soon after this process, the narrator explained that "the eggs hatch inside the heart of the apple." (That was an interesting way of putting it) Then, the tiny white worms called railroad worms, eat their way out of the apple! It dawned on me that this is a perfect illustration of how SIN, like the worm, begins inside the heart of a man and works out through an individual's thoughts, words, and actions. Listen to what Jesus said when addressing the Jews in Matthew 15: 15-20, "Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man." He is saying, there is nothing externally outside a man, that entering into him can defile him (spiritually): but the things which come out of the man, those are the very things that defile the man (Mark 7:15). Drinking a cold beer, a smoking vice, or eating a diet high in fat ARE NOT what Jesus is telling us that defiles the soul. Granted these things may harm, injure, or even kill the body, but they are stupid choices we may eventually pay for in the body! Again, in simple speech, Don’t you understand yet? Anything you eat passes through your stomach literally goes into the sewer. But the words you speak, my friend, come from your heart—that’s what defiles you! Why? Jesus told us, "For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander." THESE are what defile you.

The Pharisees had questioned Jesus in the above explanation because He permitted his disciples to eat with what the Jews considered were defiled hands (from the outside). We inherently think that defilement comes from outside of us. This is what religion teaches us. As long as we can stay away from certain people or places or things, we can remain pure and right with God. It’s all about overcoming bad habits and bad company because if we can remain separate from the evil outside of us then we will remain pure. That's what most think but that is incorrect. It is much easier to keep the outside clean and so it follows our souls must, therefore, be clean. Right? Wrong! Religion and its insistence on rules, however, cannot change the heart! And yet, this is how we are defiled before God, and this is what Jesus addresses in the second part of his parable. He is not saying that there is no such thing as defilement; he just challenges the popular opinion regarding its source. Defilement, Jesus says, does not come from out there. Rather, it comes from within here. It is “what comes out of a person” that defiles him. It is said in James 3:6 "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. (the tongue manifests what is hidden in the heart) The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:45) For thousands of years, the cure has always been A NEW CLEAN HEART. God said, "And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart." (Ezekiel 36:26). And David prayed, " Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). The message is simple. We need a heart change!

Now when we talk about the “heart” we tend to think only about emotions. Here it is contrasted with the stomach, but not because the heart refers to the spiritual part of a person as opposed to the physical part of a person. Both Hebrew and Greek speak of the heart as the seat of all physical, spiritual, and mental life. The heart is used to summarize who we really are, and the way we relate to God. We typically refer to this as our “soul.” It is that which makes us who we are. Again, not that our bodies are not a part of the “real you,” but it is also self-evident that there is something more to us than our bodies. I love what C. S. Lewis said: We do not have a soul. We ARE a soul. We "have" a body.
Jesus tells us all the sins listed in Matthew 15: 15-20 come from our hearts. Instinctively we know this! Before we ever commit sexual immorality with our bodies we do it with our hearts. Right? Same with theft, murder, deceit, envy, and pride. These things are sinful not because God has made rules to rob us of joy. What makes things sinful is our hearts in rebellion against God and the good purposes he has for us in His gifts.

I read an interesting quote while on my Twitter account this week, “The wicked think their sin is nothing, the moral think it is small, and the religious think it is manageable.” You see, if the problem is dirty hands, that’s easy. We can manage that with a little religion. But if the problem is a defiled heart we need more powerful medicine. The rules of religion can address our behavior. But dirty hands are nothing compared to a defiled heart. The good news is that God has given us a promise. To those who are guilty of defiling His holy name, He says, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:25-26).Through the gospel, we can be saved from our defiled hearts. God will give you a “new heart” that can respond to Him, rather than your old heart of stone that stubbornly refuses to obey Him. We come to Christ, then, not to rid ourselves of the impurities outside of us, but to find the only solution to the problem within us! If you are serious in following Jesus and you faithfully carry it out, He promises to wash your heart, to make you undefiled, blameless and pure and holy before God. You cannot do it by any effort on your part. He works that miracle by the Holy Spirit inside you. Father, I pray that no one will walk away from this blog today with an unwashed heart, but that their hearts might be made clean through the blood of Christ.
Until next time,
-Pat-