you can take the trailer out of the trash but...

Please excuse my wording. I have nothing against trailers, the parks housing them, or the people inside. It's merely a case where this famous line seems to be running through my mind as I go about my daily business. I read Mark 7:20-23 as a part of my time in God's Word this morning. It reads,

...What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

The more we grow in our knowledge of who God is, the more He will show where the items listed above still reside within us. We can ignore it all we want, but it's still there. As we become more intimate with the One who is holy, our falling shorts will rise to the surface. The Bible likens it to precious metals having the dross removed from them. It's painful and unpleasant, but the end result is something purer. As I continue serving in India, God is clearing out some of the dross in my life as He has been since the day He saved me.

Anyways, part of my desire to come to India was to flee some of the items Jesus listed in Mark. God's been showing me evidences of them in my own life, along with His desire to help me get rid of them. Obviously I share in His desire. Those things are repulsive and not what Christ saved me in order to pursue. However, my thought process for overcoming these has been taking a Jonah-esque method: fleeing. The fleeing I am talking about is not the biblical one, but rather running away thinking the problem is somewhere "out there." I thought India would cure me because a lot of those things are fostered (even glorified) in 21st century America. But God is showing me, there is a level of truth to the statement I used for my title.

Certainly, there is truth behind America (the world) being the problem. It's a fallen world run by fallen people. Naturally, the things of God will not be encouraged without His Spirit behind them. However, the real problem is my heart. No matter where I run, the sinful desires of my heart will always follow. I can't escape them by simply running away from the places where my heart and the world line up. I desperately need someone to take the "trash out of this trailer." Or as Paul said it a bit more eloquently in Romans,

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (7:24)

As Christ pointed out, the heart of man resides in a body of death. The Bible is littered with passages detailing the full corruption of man's heart. It's also littered (as is history) with what man is capable of doing with such a heart. We like to blame outside influences as always being the main reason why we don't grow and mature in holiness. What we really need to do is acknowledge we are still the problem. We sin, because we listen to our flesh first, and then let the world around us become the "straw which breaks the camel's back." We'd rather pass the responsibility on someone else because it enables us to sleep better and confess easier (it's much easier to say sorry for listening to others than it is to say sorry for the corruption still living within me).

But thankfully there is a way in which our "trash" can be removed. It's actually Paul's answer to his own question;

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!