Yesterday, we saw that Jesus said it was not what we ate but what comes out of our mouths that defiles us. It is our hearts and minds that are corrupted that makes us offensive. In today’s passage, Jesus gives an explicit list as an example of thoughts and behaviors that defile us.
Though we may agree Jesus’s list is contained bad things, we may still have those thoughts or behaviors. Notice that Jesus says all of them are generated from evil intentions. If we have any of these behaviors, we likely don’t think of them as evil. After all, we are good people, right?
Whether we want to admit it or not, Jesus is absolutely correct. It is evil intentions behind our willingness to act in these ways. Our culture likes to gloss over most of them. We will quickly agree murder and theft are evil and should be punished. False witness and slander are against our laws but are much more difficult to prove. People lie and spread rumors about others every day. It is only when doing so in an official capacity that they may be brought up on charges.
Adultery and sexual immorality are often swept under the rug, covered up, or dismissed. Sure, we may say they are bad and we may not hang out with those people, but we quickly move on. Yet, they are no less evil. There are often far-reaching consequences from them. Relationships are broken. Families torn apart. Friendships dissolved.
How do we keep from falling prey to these evil intentions? Our only hope is to welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives. To listen to God’s guidance that comes through the Holy Spirit. To be willing and to ask God to change our hearts and minds. We must be willing to leave our old self behind and become the new person Jesus wants us to be.
I pray we all identify the evil intentions in our own hearts. I pray we desire to remove evil intentions from our hearts. I pray each one of us welcome the Holy Spirit and ask God to clean us on the inside. Identify evil intentions. Desire to be clean. Ask God to remove your evil intentions.
Matthew 15:19-20 “For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Marty Pressey 