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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