Matthew 15

I would like to share with you, my devotions for today.

Matthew 15:10-20 is the passage.
'Jesus called the crowd to him and said, 'Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes OUT of his mouth, hat 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. Dont 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.'


The focus here, is in bold.
So often in our every day life, we have people who irritate us, who annoy us, who make us jealous without even realizing it. Every person, no matter what they do, we react to in some way shape or form. Sometimes, that reaction, just isnt very righteous....

My devotions had this illustration that I would like to share:
A baptist preacher at a retreat asked a young lady to come up to the platform, and he had in his hand a cup of water. He instructed the girl to grab the arm that held the cup of water and shake it very hard. After a moment of hestitation, the girl shook his arm, and water went flying everywhere. He looked at her and pointedly asked, 'What made the glass spill water?'
Immediately she replied, 'It spilled because I shook your arm."
"oh no" he said, "it spilled water becasue there was water in the cup."

When people shake us up...its not because of them, what comes out. What comes out when we are shaken, is already inside of us.
So when we react badly to certain people, or certain situations, its not that 'persons' fault. We should be thanking them. Because they reveal our heart.
did u hear this people?!
our reaction, to other people, reveal our heart. other people are not to be blamed, for anything. they simply just reveal to us, and if anyone else is around us, where our heart is. what exactly is in our heart.




and so often...i know for me...my heart is revealed as envious....way too many times. and frankly I don't like it. so many of our hearts, are corrupted. and we don't even realize it. each day, we need to be 'cleansed' by the charachter and mercy of our God through the Holy Spirits power. Through meditation. Through willingness.

So i challenge you, to pay attention to your reactions. and to ask God to reveal your heart. it may not be pretty. but God makes the not so pretty, into beauty. :) Be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb.