What do you consider to be vile? What is it that absolutely disgusts you? What makes you feel as though you are dirty and need to get a shower? How do you think you can be made to be dirty or offensive? Are there foods that are disgusting to you? Will you eat them?
We are offended by something we believe is vile or disgusting. There are situations from which we feel like we are dirty, and we want to take a shower. Those outward, visible things that disgust us or the feelings we have from bad situations can truly cause us to revolt against them.
But Jesus doesn’t speak about those outward things. He speaks about inward things. He says it is not what we put in our mouth that defiles us, it is what comes out. There were foods the Jews could not eat. Jesus, in this single statement, made all of them clean to eat. It is about what we say, our tone of voice, and our attitude while saying it. Our actions will reflect what is inside of us, just as our words will.
How do we correct it? We must correct what is inside us. We must be willing to leave our old self behind. We must be willing to become a new self, one that is fully committed to Jesus and His way of thinking and acting. Our mindset must be changed. Our hearts must be changed. This is the point Jesus wants us to understand. We must be clean on the inside to be clean on the outside.
I pray we all decide to clean ourselves from the inside out. I pray we choose to commit fully to Jesus. I pray each one of us choose to change our minds and hearts, understanding Jesus. Clean your inside. Commit to Jesus. Have the mind of Jesus. Have the heart of Jesus. Understand Jesus.
Matthew 15:10-11 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
Marty Pressey 