Ivory Soap Lessons

“Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.  Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them.

 Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

Mark 7:14-15

 

 

Did you ever have your mouth washed out with soap as a child?

I did!

It was not a pleasant experience.

My parents’ choice: Ivory soap.

It tasted terrible but left the intended impression.

Dirty mouths need to be cleaned.

Of course my parents understood that the soap could not literally

wash away what was in my heart.

It was meant as a memorable lesson and a deterrent to future behavior.

I think it is a lesson we can apply to todays’ scripture for

better understanding of what we often try to do.

We put on a presentable ‘front’.

We make the outside look good.

We attempt to wash the outside, making it presentable,

because we want people to think that ‘ the ‘inside’ is just like the ‘outside’ –

99 and 44/100% pure!

But Jesus took the religious leaders to task just as His words take us to task today.

We can never be made clean, spiritually speaking, by any amount of soap and showers.

We are cleansed by the atoning blood applied to our lives!

A fundamental truth we do well to remind ourselves of!