Knowing the difference between
good and evil is not enough. We know we should obey our parents, but
still we come home after curfew. We know lying is wrong, but still we stretch
the truth to avoid a reprimand from our boss. We know the Bible says, “Do not
steal, do not lie, do not covet, do not worry,” and yet we still do these
things. No, the head is not our problem. Our problem lies with the heart:
“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.” (Matthew 15:18-20,
NIV)
To complicate matters further, this
heart corruption affects the whole person, including our ability to
separate good from evil. We say, “Lies are evil,” yet we justify that truth
stretching: It’s not a lie, not really. Or so we say to ourselves.
So how can we bring good things
out of our hearts?
First, we need a heart replacement. By
nature, our heart is corrupt. So even if we fill our heart with good things,
everything put in will be corrupted, and our hearts will still spew garbage.
However, God took on human form in Jesus Christ, who died to kill that corruption
and then rose again to replace the corruption with life. So through those acts
of God, our hearts can be made new and fresh.
Once we have new heart, we must
then fill it with good things. What are those good things? As we saw
last week, they are good presentation (“pleasing to the eye”) and good content
(“good for food”). Yet these guidelines oft feel vague. What qualifies as good
presentation? What makes for good content? Thankfully, God inspired Paul to
write Philippians 4:8 to explain:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think
about such things.” (NIV)
And if these things are worth dwelling on (part of the
meaning of think in this verse), then they are
worth putting into our hearts.
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