In Mark 7:14–23 Jesus challenged the common misunderstanding that outside influences make one unclean and then listed deadly sins that destroy one from the inside. The Jews had an elaborate system defining clean and unclean foods. Some foods were legitimate, others defiling. Furthermore, they despised ethnically diverse outsiders as polluted with sin, which could infect them, like a germ. They despised the half-breed Samaritans, hated the Romans, and generally avoided anyone not like them. For Jesus, however, the nature of contamination was moral, not ritual, more like cancer on the inside. That the sins of the heart produce negative behavior towards others was a radical new doctrine. We must transform the heart to create healthy relationships. Serving leadership is the natural center of all you do when your beliefs and motivations are pure. Get your heart right before anything else.

KEY QUESTIONS: Are there any types of people I generally avoid? Do I harbor prejudice toward those who are unlike me in appearance, belief, orientation, or ability? How can I love those I disapprove of their behaviors or lifestyles? Is it possible to agree to disagree agreeably?