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“And then (Jesus) added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”  Mark 7:20-23

Our culture is very concerned about health and youth. Now, that’s not a terrible thing, as we need to take good care of the body—the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19)—given to us. But it’s a little nutty to be obsessed about it. (Friends, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there, done that—just ask my husband.) And then there’s the fixation to continue looking young, despite the years flying by. The lengths some people will go to…

Anyway, you’ve probably been around people who won’t put this or that in their mouth (sugar, carbs, etc.) because they believe it will defile their body. You may be one of those people. (When it comes to alcohol, I’m one of those people—but that’s a story for another time.) What really matters, Jesus teaches us, is not what goes into our bodies, but what comes out. Specifically, it’s what comes out of our mouth.

See, our words overflow from what fills our heart and mind (Luke 6:45). Especially when our mouth is “unguarded” in times of stress or high emotion—or when we think no one is listening. What we constantly watch, read, and “social-media-ize” about pours into us, setting a foundation, so to speak, from which we respond to life. Solomon, in all his wisdom, says the same thing when he exhorts us to guard our heart, because everything we do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23).

How then do we guard our heart? By filling up with that which is holy. By reading God’s Word every day. By walking with the wise—not fools (Proverbs 13:20). By avoiding trashy television and movies that slowly numb us into thinking, “Well, that’s not so bad.” By unplugging from the constant venomous social engagement of our time. We guard our heart by following the Apostle Paul’s thinking to-do list in Philippians chapter 4.

So, I think we could safely say that what goes in leads to defilement, because, as we fill up with junk, that junk will eventually overflow out of us—in attitude, word, and action. This makes me think of a non-Biblical idiom you may have heard before that originated from the IT world. But I think it makes a nice tweetable summary of Jesus’s teaching on this topic: Garbage in, garbage out.

“Lord, I pray that I fill my life with righteousness and pursue holiness, so that the deep spring of my heart will overflow in a way that only brings You glory.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life