Wed., 7/25/18 Devotion (Mk. 7:15)

Today's encouragement comes from Mark 7:15, where the Lord Jesus said this:

"There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man."

These words of our Savior lay out a basic difference between the true religion and all false religion. False religion is concerned about externals, first and foremost, and often exclusively. The true religion deals with the sinful and fall-en nature of the heart, and how this problem must be resolved before a Holy God through the glorious gospel of His Son Jesus Christ.

False religion is very easy to practice: do a few things, and one can imagine he or she is in God's good standing. True religion focuses entirely on Jesus, who is our only hope, our only righteousness, and our only justification.

[Puritan quote of the day: "It is a true rule in divinity that the desire for any grace is the grace itself; for to desire to believe is faith, and true desire to re-pent is repentance, and true desire to mourn for sin is mourning for sin.”
—Christopher Love, in, "The Dejected Soul's Cure"]