The Bible reminds us in Luke 6, that a good tree will produce good fruit, and a bad tree, bad fruit. The same for our hearts. If our heart is bad, it will produce a bad mouth. The question is, what kind of seeds are we planting in our hearts?
This story is about a mother and her child she influenced, but it can be applied to all of our lives and the people we influence around us.
Mark 6:14-29, talks about a mother who had some deep-rooted harbored sins. Sin starts in our hearts. It's like a contagious seed that grows and spreads, if not quenched. When harbored sins are not confessed, we can tend to think that we've gotten it all under control. But when not confessed, they will continue to grow, flourish, come out and impact the ones around us, negatively. This mother's harbored sin affected her daughter terribly.
Herodias, the mother, was upset at what John the Baptist said to her husband, Herod. John told Herod that he should not have married Herodias, who was his sister-in-law. It seems as though Herodias was still married when she married again. She got so mad and wanted to kill John, but they put him in prison for the time being.
Seems like a dramatic punishment for just a simple statement.
Later in the story, Herodias' daughter did a dance before Herod and a few other people. Herod decides to reward her with whatever she wanted. The daughter goes to ask her mom for her advice and her mom tells her to have John beheaded!
WOW!
First thing we have to remember and be aware of is that our own bitterness can fester up so deeply that we can get others involved in our own sin. This mother had a seed of anger and bitterness planted in her heart and she involved her our own daughter. She even got her daughter to do the very act for her.
Sin starts in the heart, and we dwell on them in our thoughts. But there is always an act to follow our thoughts. What's in the heart will eventually come out.
The daughter requests the head of John and now she as the DAUGHTER is walking back and holding on to a plate with a dead man's head. The blood is not just only on the mother's hands but also on the daughter's hands.
This is the depth of sin. Bitterness and unforgiveness can carry over and into the lives of those around us. It is contagious. It can also grow bigger than you ever want it to go.
The Lord has been convicting me about this greatly. My sin of anger from my past haunted me. I thought I had it under control, until the Lord showed me that I had never actually confessed it. I had to confess to be healed.
What isn't confessed isn't forgiven. What isn't confessed will always grow until we've been cleansed by Jesus.
What are we holding on to that needs to be cleansed? To be cleaned, we have to first admit that we're dirty. No one wants to be told that they're dirty.
The cleansing can be painful because of the amount of filth that needs to be cleaned.
However, the beauty of being cleansed is the gift of Rest that Jesus gives.
Careful, that seed is growing!
Share with a friend if this has encouraged you.
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