Mark 7:14-15–And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:  15  There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Through observation and the right intentions, we desire the people we care about to refrain from the things we see that damages people lives.  For example knowing someone who has died from cancer through smoking, or ailments from abusing alcohol, can cause us to focus on such things that can destroy our heath and well being…
Teaching people to refrain from those things are good, and of course can help deter them from that.  But what you realize in salvation, which means “deliverance” through the promise of freedom in the Spirit, God desires us to live an “inside out” type of life.  That if I have peace on the inside, then I don’t need to seek it from the outside.  We can generally define the “outside” as people, drugs and alcohol, fame and riches, etc. (Psalm 149:4, Philippians 2:12)
Yet Jesus knew in addressing everyone in the passage above, He had to deal with the religious world, and the idea that “cleaning up the outside” is no different than the world’s morality, without God’s sanctifying power to “clean” the inside.  Jesus knows that if people had the power to find rest from what was inside them, they wouldn’t be so prone to abuse things that we define as “defiling” our bodies. (Matthew 23:25, John 17:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:23)
This is why Jesus wanted to make sure that those who claimed to be godly understood that appearing “cleaned up” on the outside, while being full of hatred, greed, and jealousy on the inside eventually will come out and defile you!  Jesus was killed by religious people who refused to deal with what was building on the inside, because they wrongly prioritized godliness and revealed themselves as murderers…(John 8:40)
It doesn’t take knowing God to realize being an alcoholic can result in some terrible decisions and defiling our entire life.  Or being promiscuous can result in a disease that can defile our body.  But sadly if we as Christians focus on our godliness being compared to obvious “outside cleanliness”, we will live as hypocritical as the Pharisees.  When what is going on inside is never dealt with, it leaves us vulnerable to do the unthinkable.  It will always be what is going on “inside” of us that will make us humble, and desperate to know we need God daily to get cleansed from the “inside out”. (John 13:10, 1 John 1:9)
In His Love, LD