PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Mark 7:14-23

What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?

“’Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that…’” (Mark 7:18)
The word ‘dull’ describes not being able to understand, or figure things out.
The translation ‘are you so dull’ has a connotation that doesn’t sound like Jesus.
Knowing Who Jesus is, how He came, suffered and died for us, shapes how I hear it.
Seeing how Jesus related to the poor, weak, sinners and the sick does as well.
Jesus is not the type to diminish a person’s value, though he does challenge us.
I hear Jesus saying to me as well, ‘can’t you figure things out?’
In other words, ‘think about it, think it through, you can see it if you try!’
The specific issue here is outward vs inward holiness, and what really matters.
But there are many things Jesus followers need to reconsider (‘always reforming’).
Our problem is not that we can’t think, but too often we don’t think.
We become passive, we do what others tell us, and let them think for us.
We let the pastor, or the church, or public opinion, tell us what to think.
The brain is a muscle, but it grows weaker when we don’t use it.
Jesus is inviting us to think with him, to seek and find understanding with His help.
PRAYER
Lord, I need to think my life through, especially some attitudes and behaviours that are not helpful, but still seem to undermine my life. Help me not to be ‘so dull’.