For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”--Mark 7:21-23. In this passage, Jesus gives us a list of things as coming from the heart and making us unclean. He begins with evil designs. Every outward act of sin is preceded by an inward act of choice therefore; He begins with the evil thought from which evil action comes. He addressed adultery, next is fornications which is a wide word that means every kind of traffic in sexual vice. Covetousness, the accursed love of having, is also listed. It is the spirit that snatches at that which it is not right to take, the baneful appetite for that which belongs to others. It is the spirit that snatches at things, not to hoard them like a miser, but to spend them in lust and luxury.