There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
On Monday we saw that Jesus is more concerned with what’s in (and thus coming out of) our hearts than whether or not we are following laws dictating the smallest areas of our lives. You’re made holy by following Jesus, He fills your heart with holiness and the product of your life won’t be wicked. You can’t make yourself holy by what you eat (or don’t eat) just like you can’t defile yourself by what you choose to put in your body. This same interchange (in Matthew 15) is recorded by Mark 7. Mark inserts his own (divinely inspired word of God) commentary to help explain when he says: “[Jesus] declared all foods clean.”
You may have all kind of good health reasons to abstain from pork, but don’t think you’re somehow following Jesus by avoiding bacon. What you eat and don’t eat doesn’t defile you nor lead you closer to the Lord, it’s not a religious issue, our hearts are. Focus on what’s important, not the fringe. Do everything to the glory of God.
