SCRIPTURE: 2 Sam. 3; 1 Chr. 12; Matt. 15
Jesus replied, “You, too? Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.”
Matthew 15:16-20
OBSERVATIONS: Jesus upended the kosher food laws with this statement. And he also put the onus back on our heart-life rather than our rule-life, while at the same time, making it clear that our heart-life would keep us between the lines of our rule-life — the ones that really matter.
APPLICATION: Joey, beware the silly rules, the minor rules, the faux pas rules, and the “that’s the way we’ve always done it” rules. Stick to the rules of the heart of Jesus Christ and love your neighbor, walk humbly, do mercy, seek justice, be last and not first, and, above all, love God with your whole life.
PRAYER: God, let me seek your will, not the letter of the law. Let me know your heart, not the rules of our faith. And would that I might see Jesus every day, and that every day, others might see a glimpse of Jesus in me. I pray in his name. Amen.
Recent Comments