1.23.11

Matthew 15:18 "But the words you speak come from the heart--that's what defiles you."

My Thoughts

The Pharisees were worried about what the disciples and Jesus were eating...the Pharisees were good at following "law".... while they went around being evil and unkind.  We need to be mindful about what we say... at all times. At work for instance we can be really good, hard workers that follow all the rules...that do all the right things. But if we are being hateful and unkind and chasing off customers and other co-workers are we really a good worker?... are we really good for the company that we work for? We can go to Church on Sundays and Wednesday nights...and to all the other gatherings...but if we are being a gossip and only finding fault... if we are unfriendly and say unkind things are we really being good?  Jesus says here in Matthew that we are defiled by the words that we speak...he even points out that when we are unkind it comes from our heart.  Verse 19-20  goes on to say that "For from the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, and all sexual immorality, theft, lying and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you." Our unkind words... our hateful words... our gossiping word are put right up there  with murder, adultery and sexual immorality and theft. Often we like to think our words don't matter...but Jesus says that they matter a lot.  David even prayed in Psalms 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." This should be our prayer as well... we should pray for God to guide our words... we should ask ourselves  before we speak, "Do I want God to see my heart like the words I am about to speak?"... if your answer is no... we should stop and rethink what you are about to say.  If all the words that come out of our mouth were pleasing to God we would never loose sleep at night worrying about the word that came from our mouth...if we keep it in our mind that our words reflect our hearts our words would be much kinder.  We need to be aware all the time that if we wouldn't want somebody hearing what we say...that God hears... and we need to make an effort to change our hearts so that when God is looking down at us, and listening He smiles... If we make that effort I be that we smile more ourselves.