Words You Speak

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” . . . The words you speak come from the heart —that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. Matthew 15:7-8, 18-19

JESUS WAS SPEAKING to a group of people who were rigid in their religious observance. They were frustrated that Jesus was not following their rules. Jesus was more concerned, however, with the way they had managed to develop a system of manageable dos and don’ts that they thought would make them acceptable to God while ignoring the hardness of their hearts toward him and one another. There was a significant disconnect between the religious commitment they claimed and the true condition of their hearts, which was evident by their words.

And it is that disconnect —that hypocrisy, as Jesus names it —that we eschew in ourselves and in our children. We can sometimes be so concerned that our kids act right and go through the motions of church life that we miss the real issue —their need for hearts that are being made new by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only then will evil thoughts progressively be transformed into holy thoughts and desires.

We don’t want to have a home in which outer conformity covers up inner rebellion that goes unrecognized or unchallenged. We long for sincere faith and a humble awareness of our need for God, by his Spirit and through his Word, to give us and our children new hearts, pure hearts, sincere hearts.

Lord, I’m thinking about the words my children hear me speak each day and how they reveal the true condition of my heart —specifically, the sins that have made themselves at home there. Save me from the hypocrisy of church activity without genuine repentance. Save me from the hypocrisy of praying over meals without praying about what matters. Save me from the hypocrisy of reciting your commands without living under your authority. And Lord, don’t let me confuse rule-keeping in ________ with regeneration and repentance. You are the one who can replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh, so I ask you to do that in ________ today.