In my previous writing on this theme, I drew our attention to Jesus' words about the source of evil in the world. “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” (Mark 7:20–23).
I would like to follow that discussion with a related question: How can I identify the enemy’s voice in my heart? We are, after all, made in God’s image. We are created with incredible potential for good, and I cannot believe that even Satan’s grip in this world is so all-consuming as to completely remove the indelible stamp of God’s goodness on the human heart.
But I have to acknowledge that the goodness in the human heart has been poisoned, infected with a disease we often call sin. That’s why Jeremiah can say, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). If hell’s deception is so fully enmeshed with the divine image upon my heart, how can I ever know what is good?
I will not answer every question raised by this concern, but I think the Gospel of Mark can make one powerful observation. A simple test is this: Our response to Jesus reveals the enemy within. Evil - whether in the human heart or the prevailing culture or even the depths of hell - cannot and will not bend the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:3). If you find the whisper of your heart evading the mandate of Christ on your life, that inclination is not from God.
Consider, for example, the simple question that Jesus asks the disciples in Mark 8:27, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples repeat the familiar gossip about Jesus that was running through the masses. “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets” (8:28). None of these are denigrating titles. The crowds are not disparaging Christ. But neither are they willing to consider him a king from heaven. Jesus could be a good teacher, maybe even a great prophet, but not a lord and certainly not The Lord. The evil within us is willing to be impressed by Jesus so long as it does not have to submit to him.
Bold and outspoken Peter famously responds with a far better answer: “You are the Christ” (8:29-30). In Matthew’s account, Jesus praises Peter for speaking the truest words ever spoken. “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). This truth is the bedrock truth upon which the kingdom of heaven stands (Matthew 16:18-19).
But while the words of Peter are a confession fit for heaven, hidden in his meaning is a reservation, a poisonous hesitation buried in his heart. This evil becomes revealed in the scene that immediately follows in Mark’s account, wherein Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed” (8:31). Hearing this, “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him” (8:32).
Peter is willing to confess Jesus as Christ, but Peter has a particular vision of Christ in mind. The voice within Peter’s heart is willing to confess Jesus as the conquering Christ, but not as a suffering servant. Peter could bend the knee to the Christ he wanted, but not the Christ whom God had sent. Peter will confess, but only on his own terms. When Jesus confesses the true meaning of being the Christ of God, it earns a rebuke from Peter, thus revealing the work of the enemy in Peter’s heart.
Jesus knew exactly what he had just heard from Peter. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Mark 9:33). Jesus knew the source of Peter’s hesitation. The words of confession had come from heaven, but the obstinance had come from hell. In these partial confessions, Jesus heard the insincerity of Satan rather than faith.
Later in Mark, a similar scene plays out. A young man comes to Christ and asks, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Jesus tells him to keep the commandments of God, and the young man says he has done so (10:18-20). So far, so good!
But when Jesus lovingly looked at the man, behind this profession of obedience, Jesus saw also the stain of the enemy. “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (10:21). Hidden from view, the young man had kept a portion of his heart for himself. He found a treasure on earth he favored to the God of heaven. “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22).
What we see in both of these stories is a simple and sad truth. There is an enemy with us all, a voice from below that often sounds much like our own. It will allow us to give some of ourselves to God, but never all. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7). The enemy within will never follow Christ.
Will you?
I am convinced that God’s image remains in us. I don’t think the enemy can remove it, though he may mar and poison it. What remains for us then is for the voice of the enemy to die so that the image of God can live. Because the enemy sounds so much like us, denying that voice will sound and feel very much like denying ourselves. Setting it aside will require us to take up the very part of Christ’s Lordship that we find most abhorrent and at last yield to him the part of ourselves we have sought to hide. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (8:34).
Thanks be to God that he has not asked us to accomplish this heart surgery under our power. He is with us every step of the way. He always has been.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
Dr. Benjamin Williams is the Senior Minister at the Central Church of Christ in Ada, Oklahoma and a regular writer at So We Speak. Check out his books The Faith of John’s Gospel and Why We Stayed or follow him on Twitter, @Benpreachin.
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