What comes out....

I was doing my daily Bible reading today. Came across this scripture in Matthew 15:

What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ ” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ ”

Now, my mom always told me to wash my hands before I ate something. Hmm. Good idea, I even taught my kids that, but that is not what Jesus is dealing with here. First I find it interesting that the disciple came to Jesus and asked him if he noticed that he had offended the religious leaders. Imagine that! Of course Jesus knew what he was saying! Poor guy, just didn't get it did he? Then Jesus asked them, "Are you so dull?" Really that gives me hope. They were right there with him, listening, following, asking questions and learning from Him, yet they still had trouble grasping everything that he was saying and teaching. But then Jesus gets to the point, it is about the heart. Jesus was trying to get it across to these religious guys that their hearts were not right. Good news is the disciples hearts were right even if they did not understand everything he was trying to tell them. Jesus wants our hearts, not our ability to follow rules. He wants us to want to follow him, to serve him, serve others and to be an example to the world... because we love him and want to do this not because it is a bunch of rule for us to check off our list so that we can do what we do to gain what God promises us...

People are gonna see the way we live our lives. From the outside, they cannot always tell if we do what we do because we love God or because we are trying to "gain" our salvation through the following of the "rules" we read about in God's word. They may not be able to tell, but we can. We know why we do what we do. We do what we do because God showed us the ultimate love by sending His son to this earth to live and to die for us. To make a way for us to have a relationship with Him. We love because He first loved us. We love others because God love them and us. We do the things we do because we love God and want to share that love with those in this world that do not know God and know his unbelievable love for His creation.

We live differently. We act, talk and respond differently to people and circumstances in our daily lives. We do this because of the love of our Father. The hope that we have of spending eternity with our Father and with each other in heaven. It is about the words that come out of our mouths, but it is also about the actions of our lives that show the light of the love of Jesus to a dark world.

I want the things that come out of my heart to be kindness, love, sympathy, caring, patience, joy, peace and all the ways that God our Father is, I want to show the world my Father through the way I live my life. What is coming out of your heart? Fill your heart with the love of the Father and what comes out through your life will be a reflection of the Father. Praise be to His name!

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TEAM

What do you think of when you hear the word "team". One thing for me, especially because of the Weltmeisterschaft (World Cup of Soccer) going on right now, I think of Soccer. I think about how these teams work together (or in some cases do not work well together) towards a common goal, pun there, to score a point and eventually win the game and tournament. I see them struggle on the field, not just with their opponents, but also with their own teammates. I have also seen the value in being unselfish. How many times have I seen in the different games where one man is taking the ball to the goal and at just the last minute, when the suspense is just about to kill you, will he shoot, will the opponent knock it down or out of the way... the man with the ball doesn't shoot... he instead passes it to another player because...BECAUSE he has the better shot. Think about how hard that is. Giving the glory to the other person. Literally giving it away. You had the shot, maybe you make it, maybe you don't, but you had the chance... But you are a team. A team isn't about one person, it is about the common goal. During this tournament I have seen so many selfless acts. So many times that someone passed the ball to someone else for the greater good. Seeing the other person getting the glory for a great shot... that they would not have had if the other person had kept the shot for themselves. You know what I am talking about... I don't just mean Fußball (soccer) either. I am talking about God's Family. I am talking about our workplaces, our individual families, our extended families and all those areas in our lives where we interact with other people "working together for a common goal". I must confess... it is hard to be a team player. Ha, no surprise to you there... if you know me. I like to be the one with the great idea. I like to be the one to score the winning point. I like to be the one to receive the glory... But being a part of a team means IT IS NOT ABOUT ME. Hard pill to swallow, ha, it is a difficult pill to even put in my mouth.

Years ago, many more than I choose to count, I worked in a grocery store. Pikewood Food Center. Each year Karen and I would go to a convention with my boss and his wife. This was put on by the supplier of our groceries. Each year there would be a theme. You know the kind, get everyone excited, pumped up so that they would buy a ton of stuff later at this show... you know, all those deals that were a once in a lifetime deal that you just could not pass up... at least until next year. :-) Sorry, I got sidetracked in all the memories. A theme I remember well, was centered around this word TEAM. T is for Together, E is for Everyone, A is for Achieves, M is for More. Together everyone achieves more. Hmmm, think about that. Agree? Disagree? Was it just a ploy to get all the grocery guys to buy more stuff from our supplier?

I would like to tweek that a bit. I would like to suggest that, TOGETHER, EVERYONE is ABLE to do MORE. I guess this comes down to what together means. For me that means that if I am not the center of attention, if I am not the one seeking the glory as I work in a group, then the group as a whole will be better off as we attempt to accomplish what we have started out to do together. Jump back to God's Family. We ARE family, God made us that way, kind of like our own families, we didn't get to choose who is in it, we just love them anyway. God adds us to HIS family. Hopefully we are, want to be, a team. What are our motivations as we would together as a team? What is our goals? Obviously Jesus gave us the ultimate goal... "seek and save the lost"! God's family, God's team, has the opportunity to share the great message of Jesus Christ with a lost world. This my friends is not an easy task, (saving that thought for another day)but this requires every player to play his part. Everyone cannot be on offense, everyone cannot be on defense, everyone cannot be the goalie. Ha, I just got a funny picture in my mind. I thought if all the Germany players decided that they all wanted to be the goalie... you have all of them standing in front of the goal and their opponent having the run of the field... sorry, i am digressing... maybe not. We are a body, Christ is the head, we each play a role in the body, Paul talked about this, this body working together, each part doing what GOD INTENDED IT TO DO, BEING PLACED WHERE HE WANTED IT TO BE... Working together. I am thankful that the body that God gave me works well with itself. I believe we call it cancer when the body turns on itself. I do not want to be cancer in God's family. I really would rather be the little toe and never get noticed for the support I give than to cause death and destruction in something so beautiful as the body of Christ. There are power in numbers, there is power in family. You know this. There is power in working together. We can help each other do better when we put the needs of others above ourselves. I think I read that somewhere...

Love the Lord your God... first command
Love your neighbor as you love yourself, treat him/her as you WANT to be treated... second command
All the rules, all the commands, all the regulations, all the teachings and all the prophesies of the Bible boil down to these two...

Family = Team. God's Family = God's Team. We have a team captain, He is Jesus Christ. I am thankful to be a player on His team. I want to live, breath and work as a team player. Seeking to make YOU stronger, utilize your talents, help you be closer to our Father as we reach out to the lost of our world and ultimately bringing Glory to God our Father through the life and service that we give Him as his family and team.

Thank you for your time this day that it took to read the writings of a person striving to truly put God and His Son Jesus on the throne of my life, then making sure that I am also putting your needs, your concerns before my own. Guess I am not through yet, actually I guess it would be better to say that God is not through with me yet. Thank you Father for the Spirit that you gave to me as a gift, that lives in me and helps me to grow to be the man, husband, father, brother and your son that you want me to be. Praise be to your name. Amen.