Pastor’s Corner: “Heart to Mouth”
Matthew 15:11 (NIV) – What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.
In the current culture, it seems what goes into the mouth is given much more thought and priority than what comes out of it. Our society is obsessed with diet, weight loss and health. We are saturated with internet and TV advertisements for exercise products (Peloton, Bow-flex), weight loss products/vitamins, as well as diet/nutrition programs and books. Everybody claims to have the right formula or product to achieve optimal health. Television networks like The Food Network and The Cooking Channel fuel our culture’s obsession with food. Sadly, in today’s setting much more focus and importance is put into what types of food goes into a mouth, while what comes out of it seems to be given very little thought. It seems that spewing hate and garbage out of our mouths is perfectly acceptable to society and no one gives it a second thought.
Jesus’ teachings and life again highlights the difference between the world and the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus took great care to explain why what goes into the body through the mouth, is not as important as what comes out of it. Matthew 15:11 (NIV) – What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them. Current culture seems to foster hateful, hurtful, and careless words designed to humiliate and destroy others, and supports the sharing of it through public and social media for the whole world to hear or read.
Worldwide share-ability through technology has escalated the effects of its destructive reach. Still Jesus emphasized that what comes out of peoples’ mouths is destructive to themselves, a truth seemed lost in today’s society. Yet how many people might think twice about what they are writing or saying if they understood their words are defiling themselves?
If individuals truly understood how their words towards others are actually revealing more about their own heart, along with causing much harm personally, they might reconsider the things they say and write. Luke 6:45 explains how “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” If you’ve been tempted to jump onto the social media insult wagon, consider your words as Ephesians 5:31 urges, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”
Instead of lashing out with your words, Colossians 3:8 encourages, “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” Ask God to, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3). When you do, Scripture assures, “Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin” (Proverbs 13:3).
Perhaps you’ve been surprised by things you’ve heard said not only by secular voices but also by some Christians? Maybe your own words have caught you off guard at times? If so, Scripture reminds us, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless” (James 1:26).
I want to challenge you. The next time you consider what you put into your mouth, I would also like you to consider what has been coming out of your mouth. When you concern yourself with what you are putting into your body, or your weight or your health, I want you to concern yourself with the words that have been coming out of your mouth. I believe it will highlight how much time we think about one and how little time we think of the other. Sometimes it may not highlight a multiplicity of hateful words but more of a silence and absence of words that bless, build up and encourage others (words of life).
Jesus calls us to be more concerned with what we say than what we eat, because it’s not the food we put into our mouths that has the ability to dishonor us but rather the words that come out of it. As Proverbs 18:21 explains, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Again we are called to be counter-cultural, not like the world. Let us start with our words. Bless you and may the Lord fill you mind, heart and mouth with His Words of Life!
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton