Then He said, “What comes out of a person-that defiles him. For from within, out of people’s hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, promiscuity, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”  Mark 7:23 HCSB

There is a show that comes on the Investigation Discovery channel called Obsession, Dark Desires. When the show comes on the narrator defines obsession as what occurs when desire overcomes reasoning. People become obsessed with other people and stalk them. We have seen that this can become dangerous as their obsession tends to progress. We may call them crazy or say that they are one fry shy of a happy meal. But, what we must understand that it’s a heart condition. Now, I don’t mean like clogged arteries or something that a heart specialist can diagnose. I mean that when the Holy Spirit does not fill our heart that we can suffer from a heart condition. Our heart can become filled with the sins mentioned in our scripture passage. I can tell you from experience that when you don’t keep your heart filled with the Holy Spirit that the devil can stuff it with a whole lot of things that have no business being there. When you have this kind of heart trouble, it gives you thoughts that you have no business even having and before you know it, you have acted on these thoughts and find yourself in a whole mess of trouble.

So, but for the grace of God any of us can fall into this pit if we are not careful. We have all been hearing the stories of police officers, teachers and even clergymen involved in child pornography and indecent behavior with juveniles. When we give in to the desires of the flesh, we step into very dangerous territory. The problem is that the flesh can never be satisfied. It must always have more. When it steps into darkness, it must go further and further. So before you know it watching pornography isn’t enough anymore. You become obsessed with playing out the scenes. You may become obsessed with rape. Your obsession with pornography can become a strong desire to commit a criminal act.

If your heart is not filled with the Holy Spirit, then you will fill a void in your life. Some try to fill this void with food, some try to fill it with alcohol, some try to fill it with sex. The only thing that will truly satisfy and fill this void is a good, solid relationship with Jesus. When we enter into this close relationship with Him, He fills our hearts with His Holy Spirit and we are content and satisfied. We have peace and joy in our lives.

Now some of you may have read the title and said, “I have no obsession.”  Well, my friend, this is where you’re wrong. We all have an obsession. Humans are made that way. We may be obsessed with pleasing God, this is a good thing. This will bring us peace and joy in our lives.

But, if we are obsessed with our work, our hobbies, our clubs, or anything other than serving the Lord, we will find that we have an imbalance in our lives. You see, when we obsess about serving the Lord, God takes care of all our needs (Matthew 6:33-34). We have no reason to worry. But, when we become obsessed with other things we will never be truly satisfied. We will find ourselves seeking more and more ways to fill the void left in our hearts by the absence of the Holy Spirit.

Now if you don’t know what your obsession is, there is a very simple formula to determine what it is. In Matthew 6:21 Jesus tells us that where our treasure is, our heart is also. Follow the money trail, this will tell you where your obsession lies. Is it in possessions? Is it in hobbies? Do you overspend when it comes to your children? Where is your money going, because my friend, this will tell you where your heart is? Do you spend so much on earthly things that you believe you can’t afford to tithe and contribute to offerings at church? If so, you are in some dangerous financial territory. But worse than that, you have a serious heart problem.

In Matthew 12:34-35 Jesus confronts those whose fruit don’t show them to be Christians. He has some harsh words for them, when he says, “Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.”

When you pass judgment on those performing evil deeds, remember that but for the grace of God we may be doing the same thing. We must remember to keep our heart filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the fuel that runs Christians and keeps them performing well. Our human nature causes us to be obsessed with something. Our Spirit determines what fills our heart and what comes out of our mouths. What comes from the heart becomes our thoughts, which become our words and determine our actions. My prayer for you today is that you are only obsessed with pleasing the Lord. Any other obsession will be dangerous for you, but pleasing the Lord will bring contentment, peace and joy into your life. You can’t go wrong when you obsess over pleasing Him.

Have a great day!