Today's readings are Genesis 22.1-19 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Gen.+22.1-19 ) and Mark 7.1-23 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Mark+7.1-23 ).
We see here two instances of God demanding of people to give up that which they cannot give up. In Genesis, He has called Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, the child of promise. Abraham is making the dreadful journey to the place of sacrifice. His son, Isaac, now a teenager, is going willingly, though surely not without hesitation. He does not appear completely resigned to himself being the sacrifice, nor does Abraham appear resigned to giving up his son. Of course, we see that God spares Isaac and provides a ram in his stead. We will return to that idea in a moment.
In our Mark reading, we see that uncleanness comes from within, not from without. Notice the list in verses 21-22. All manner of evil comes from within us. It's in our nature. We may be able to make ourselves adhere to God's commands physically, put on a good appearance, avoid smoking, drinking, chewing, or kissing girls who do. But we cannot make ourselves stop our greed, envy, pride, etc. Worse yet, our success at maintaining a positive appearance can often result in more pride. What will we do then? What kind of sacrifice will purify us? Jesus has already told us that outward cleansing will be of no avail.
Back to Genesis. God himself provides a sacrifice, according to his own good pleasure and design, and reveals it to us at the time which he proclaims to be the right time. It's not a small sacrifice either, it's a ram, a noble sacrifice. God has provided in Christ, the perfect lamb of God, a perfect sacrifice for our sin. While we will continue making evil and pouring selfish desires out of our hearts, the Lord will continue cleansing us as we depend on the perfect righteousness and substitutionary atonement of Christ. This is God's good pleasure. Jesus has come, and he came at the time and in the way which was right. We cling to Christ's righteousness as we see our inability.
Do we want to get rid of the sin in our life? Yes, with some reservations. But our wholehearted willingness to stamp out sinful desires is not the basis of God's forgiveness in Christ. His design is to change us by his means and in his time. Let us look to the enormity of this provision in Christ rather than the enormity of our sin. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, we can go forward, trusting that he has done according to his good pleasure. It doesn't mattter that it is not according to our good pleasure. It's right nevertheless.
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