Are You Still Without Understanding?

So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” Matthew 15:16-20

Let’s back up a little to understand why Jesus asks “are you still without understanding?” Jesus was with His disciples and the Pharisees approached Him accusing the disciples of “transgressing the tradition of the elders” because they did not wash their hands before they ate bread. Jesus in turn asked them a question. “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?” He then turns to the people who were there and speaks to them in parables concerning what defiles a man. Afterward Peter asked Him to explain the parable, and so the question “are you still without understanding?”

The disciples walked with Him, ate with Him, talked with Him, watched Him perform miracles and by that time they should have understood His language even when speaking in parables, but just because they walked, talked, and ate with Him does not mean that they were always in the Spirit. The flesh cannot understand the language of the Spirit; it can only imitate it to create a façade of being something that it’s not. (I hope that made sense.) Let me give you an example of what mean when I use the word façade. There are people who sit in churches today, who sing with us, pray with us, and listen to the word with us BUT they are not walking in the Spirit. They know the word and may even look like they live a holy life, but that’s all it is – show, a façade, what they want others to believe about them. People who walk in the Spirit can see through a façade and are not easily fooled. So back to the disciples, they were still seeing things with their natural eyes and not their spiritual eyes so Jesus had to break it down to them again, yet the question remains “are you still without understanding?”

There is a misconception in the world about what a Christian is. Many people believe that when one becomes a Christian one ceases to have fun. Not true! Others believe that when one becomes a Christian one is perfect. Definitely and absolutely not true! I would say that when you become a Christian you have more fun. Not in the sense that the world considers fun but fun in the Lord. When you become a Christian, you will not be perfect until you are in heaven with the Lord, but you strive for perfection and that is the difference. We WILL make mistakes it’s inevitable but how you react to those mistakes and whether or not you learn from it determine your stage in maturity or your stage of growth. For this reason we must be careful what we inject into our minds. What we watch, read, or listen to goes into our minds and then into our hearts. Once it is in our hearts it comes out in some kind of physical action, usually out of our mouths. The things we say. What we receive in our minds goes into our hearts and determines the kind of person or the kind of Christian we will be. Let me give you an example.

Many of you have heard this analogy before but I will use it anyway. ;) The mind is like a computer. You store information in it and save it for when you need it if you don’t need it at the moment. Half the stuff you learn in school you don’t need it at the moment but later on in life you will. So if you save junk in your computer eventually you will get a virus that will wipe out your hard drive and you will have to start all over again. Ever noticed that viruses are called worms? Some of them don’t damage your computer right away; they worm their way through and then BAM!!! Your hard drive is wiped out. It’s the same way with the mind. When you store junk in your brain, (negative comments said about you, movies that are morbidly violent, sexually explicit, or the language is too graphic, music that does not worship God, etc.) eventually you will start speaking and acting like what you watch and what you hear if not right away. My aunt always used to say (and probably still does) “garbage in, garbage out.”
On the flip side, if you fill your mind with the word of God and APPLY it or practice it, you will speak and act according to the word.

Jesus told the people and His disciples that it is not what enters a man’s mouth that defiles him; it is what comes of out the mouth that defiles a man because out of the abundance of the heart the man speaks. If your heart is full of anger, you will speak angry words and be a violent person. If your heart is filled with bitterness, you will speak misery and be a miserable person. If your heart is full of love, you will speak loving words and be a loving person. So it’s all about what you put in your mind that goes into your heart and comes out of your mouth. Jesus further explains to the disciples that what goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated. Most people go to the bathroom not long after they have eaten; this is the body eliminating what went into the mouth and stomach. But, what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and from the heart comes all kinds of evil and He proceeds to list these evils: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. How do these things get into the heart??!! The mind!!!! People wake up!!!! Be careful what you allow your mind to entertain because it may lead you to sin!! It’s like the virus worm in your computer that worms its way into your thoughts and then your heart till finally BAM!! You’ve acted on it or spoken on it and it has cost you dearly. So now I ask you “are you still without understanding?”

Heavenly Father,
Help us to be ever mindful that the things that we speak would not defile us or offend You. If we have believed an evil report about ourselves from someone else and it has caused us to be bitter, angry, or hateful, heal us Father and make us whole again. Remind us of what You say about us in Your word. Father help us to take care of what we listen to – that would not lend our ear to gossip, slander, or any conversation that does not uplift Your name. That we would not lend our ear to listen to music that profanes Your name or watch anything that would invite “junk” into our minds and hearts. Help us to be aware of when that worm is trying to intrude in our thoughts and worm its way into our hearts and not allow it. Help us to pray for one another and uplift each other in the spirit of unity and the bond of peace for that is what Your word tells us to do. Bless all who read this today and remind them of Your word so that they can detect the worm when it tries to come in with negative thoughts, with lies spoken into their lives, with memories of their past. Thank you Father for all that You do, all that You’ve done, and all that You will do for Your children.

In Jesus name,
Amen