SCRIPTURE: Matthew (NIV) 15:17 [Jesus speaking] “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean’.”
OBSERVATION: Uncleanness is a heart matter. Unclean thoughts may enter through the eye gate or the ear gate, but it is in the heart that they are accepted and reviewed, and reviewed again, and reviewed again until a plan of action is worked out in the mind. Maybe the plan never gets put into action, but the issue can remain in the heart.
Forgiveness is the detergent for cleaning the heart of past sins: asking God to forgive me and me forgiving others. The presence of the Holy Spirit gives us strength to resist present temptations.
APPLICATION: I must rule my private life if I am ever to rule my public life. From time to time, those around me may get a glimpse of what is inside my heart, but God always sees my heart. Living in an immoral world, I must continually guard my heart. I may not be able to keep evil from entering my eye or ear gates, but with the presence of the Lord in my life and His help, and by thinking on the good things God has brought to me, I can stop evil from getting settled in my heart.
PRAYER: Lord, when I received you as my Lord, you forgave my past sins. Now, I want my heart to be always full of you. May your will be done in my heart as it is in heaven. Amen.
Pastor Leon
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