Did You Wash Your Hands, Brett?

¹⁶ “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. ¹⁷ “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. ¹⁸ But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. ¹⁹ For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. ²⁰ These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”  Matthew 15:16-20

NICE TRY!!

Look what I was reading today and stumbled upon a possible excuse for Brett not to wash his hands.  I hope he doesn't get his hands on this little Jesus quote and use it against me.  In all seriousness, I managed to avoid being taken away in handcuffs for my expired registration today, so I have nothing truly entertaining to share.  I felt, however, that this verse was something I needed to hear.  Perhaps you feel the same way.

¹⁰ Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ¹¹ It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”  Matthew 15:10-11

This is the message that comes before.  Ouch!!  For the record, I am for both hand washing and a pure heart.  The truth is we are rarely of a pure heart.  I often have negativity in my heart that I must beat down or remind to find another place to live instead of my heart.  We are human.  Our very nature is not necessarily happy and pure.  Recently I was sitting with a friend and I had seen a less that appropriate outfit and I thought, "Bad outfit."  I resisted the urge to say it as she really believed she looked lovely.  My friend, on the other hand, said, "Terrible outfit!"  I laughed and spit the water I was drinking on myself.  At that moment I realized I was as guilty as her for the mean comment.

We all have our issues.  Not one of us is perfect, but we can strive to keep our hate, immorality, slander, theft, lying, etc out of our lives by not allowing it to penetrate our lips.  Our words are so powerful.  I am very guilty of using my words to cut like a knife and often those words can NEVER be removed from the heart of the receiver.  We mostly hurt the people we love the most because in our comfort we can be critical.  Try to think about the last part of the verse, "11 It is not what goes in your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth."  Matthew 15:11.

Let that scripture guide you this week.  It doesn't matter what religion you follow or avoid, this verse is ever true in all of our lives.  Use your words to encourage, spread kindness, joy and love, not hate, lies, and filth.  I am thankful for the way God can so easily speak to my heart.(Day 54)  I hope my heart will listen.  Goodnight Friends.