that which comes out of the mouth

Matthew 15:11. Not that which goeth into a man defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Glory be friends! It’s lazy-day Saturday, and also the first day of the month of May! That means our world has already gone through four months of this year of 2021 ensnared in the brutal fangs of the Corona virus, racial, political and religious strife and numerous natural disasters. And we’re still locked down with no sign of relief in sight. There are vaccines aplenty, but the pandemic is still roaring ahead strong. And don’t talk about all the different kinds of strife, they seem to be proliferating daily because we keep fanning the flames around them instead of squelching them with LOVE and togetherness.

Consequently, there will be no Labour Day marches and celebrations of the hard-won benefits that the Labour Movement have won down through the Industrial Age. Instead, our sad state of affairs have given the owners of the means of production a chance to retract and restrict some of those hard-won rights. It has always been, and will always be, an uphill fight against the greed and avarice of the owner class of society. They are not really interested in the betterment of the society as a whole, just in that of their upper crust section.

And, unfortunately, we cannot fix the wrongs of the world in the pages of our Bit, but we can certainly offer encouragement and ideas that will help us survive, and eventually overcome. And all God’s children said a loud, proud and grateful: ‘Praise the Lord!’ So let’s keep that promise by checking out the quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow.

Now, this first quote is the building block, the foundation of all the others. ‘Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have.’ And that’s the indisputable truth friends! You can’t have a good relationship with anyone else until you have a good one with yourself. Why do you think Jesus told us that the second greatest commandment was to LOVE our neighbours as ourselves eh? (Matt. 22:39) Because He knew that only if we had a good feeling about, or relationship with ourselves, that we could have the same with someone else.

That means whatever is inside of us, is what we have to share and nothing else. No wonder He also said: ‘Not that which goeth into a man defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man…. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the 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 unwashen hands defileth not a man.’ (Matt. 15: 11, 18-20)

So that’s why this next quote is also very important in the life of each individual. ‘There is no sense in punishing your future for the mistakes of your past. Forgive yourself, grow from it, and then let it go.’ That’s more indisputable truth my brethren. It’s a waste of life and precious time to keep toting our baggage from the past constantly along with us. Like the quote says, it’s just ‘punishing your future for the mistakes of your past.’ And that’s certainly not wise.

We need to leave our baggage behind, but certainly learn from it, so that we can have good energy and increased wisdom to move into the future and do better than we did before. And the best way to do that is to accept Christ’s invitation to lay it down at his feet, at the foot of His cross. He sincerely invites us: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest… For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light’ (Matt. 11:28, 30)

You can’t do any better than giving your problems to Jesus’ friends, because He’s the problem solver, the miracle worker, the I can do anything you want me to individual! And when we do that my people, this next quote comes shining through in our lives. ‘When I accept myself just as I am, I am freed from the burden of needing you to accept me.’

Oh, praise be my precious fellow believers! When we give ourselves and our burdens to Christ, we don’t need to seek acceptance from anyone else, because, Christ, the Lord and Saviour is the ONLY one we truly need acceptance from! Once He accepts us, we are free and clear of the worldly burden that the enemy tries to put on us, saying we must do this or do that to be acceptable in the sight of the world! Give thanks to His holy name friends for freeing us from all the foolishness, deceit and burdens the enemy tries to lay on us through the evil world system!

That brings us to our last quote, another beauty: ‘Confidence is the ability to feel beautiful, without needing someone to tell you.’ Isn’t that wonderful? It surely is! But then you ask, where do we find that confidence that leads to the ability to feel beautiful? From Jesus Christ of course my friends…From Jesus Christ! You can’t get than from no one, or nowhere else but the One who sacrificed His sinless life so selflessly on the cross of Calvary on our behalf! That’s what He gives us when we accept Him as Lord and Saviour and live the righteous way He desires of us.

But unfortunately, that doesn’t happen overnight, it is a gradual process. We can’t live one way for several years and then expect to change to another completely different form in the blink of an eye. And it does take effort on our part, because it’s a partnership we enter into with Christ. There are some things we need to do and some that only Christ will do. And please believe me when I say that He won’t do the things we need to do, so our progress or regress depends quite a lot on us.

And those things include reading, studying and meditating on His Word, the Bible, which is His Guidebook for our earthly lives. Then we not only need to know what that guidebook contains, but even more importantly, we need to practice what it says. Now that’s the major difference between a confident and non-confident Christian. The confident ones go out and do stuff, make things happen in Christ’s name, while the non-confident ones just talk and don’t do anything to grow Christ’s kingdom.

Yes friends, please remember that’s what we are supposed to be all about on this God-given earth nuh, spreading Christ’s Word and growing His kingdom. So, let’s get out there today and do just that nuh, with the wonderful confidence that He so generously instills in us when we truly believe in Him! Much LOVE!

…in Christ we live and move…in Christ we have our very being… (Acts 17:28)

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Matthew 15:11. Not that which goeth into the mouth that defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Ah Lord eh friends, that winter storm that we talked about yesterday did hit the U.S. North East and Midwest with a vengeance! Rain and snow, high winds and flooding wreaked havoc in several states, including, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

Thankfully though, now it has passed on, leaving the unfortunate victims to pull themselves together as best they can, many without light and power. Please, let’s pray for them in their time of distress and do whatever we can to alleviate their situation, for one day we might find ourselves in the same situation, needing the help of others.

And strangely, we got nothing in my area, but the li’l snow that fell overnight, and wonder of wonders, by mid- afternoon, all traces of snow had disappeared. Thank the Lord! Anyway, it’s Saturday, which means turning our attention to some of the quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this week, in his sincere effort to inspire us for a better tomorrow.

And the first quote says: ‘A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.’ We all know that. We always need something to believe in, something to anchor us, be it good or bad, right or wrong, otherwise we’ll be easily bamboozled by anything. (smile)

The second one wisely advises: ‘Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.’ And is that ever so true my people! The seeds we plant are always more important than the harvest we reap. That’s because we will only reap what we sow.

As they say, we can’t sow peas and expect to reap corn. Therefore, if you want to reap a good harvest, then it is a necessity to first sow good seeds. Please, let’s all concentrate on sowing good seeds in Jesus name, and leave the harvest to Him.

Now hear this quote: ‘If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.’ Glory be my fellow believers! Comparatively speaking, very few of us will ever be able to do great things in this world, but ALL of us can do small things in a good and great manner.

Remember, the small things do matter, and when you add up the small things, then you get the big ones. So let’s not lose heart if today we’re not embarked on some project that will become great and also make us great, but sincerely concentrate on the small ones we have going and make them as good as we can. The Lord appreciates ALL sincere efforts, and you don’t have to do something great for Him to be pleased with you, just do His will.

And as always, I’ve left the best for last: ‘LOVE yourself. It is important to stay positive because beauty comes from the inside out.’ Words of immense wisdom and common sense my brethren! Remember one of Jesus’ commands, in fact the second great commandment was to LOVE your neighbour as you LOVED yourself. (Matt.22:39)

That means you have to be at peace with yourself and like yourself, if you are going to have similar emotions for someone else. But unfortunately too many of us, Christians included, don’t seem to like ourselves. Why? I really can’t say nuh. But that’s one of the reasons why there’s so much anger, hatred, violence, resentment and all the other negative emotions floating around in our world today.

If we liked ourselves more than we seem to do, there would be a lot less of that stuff doing the rounds, because we would have more beauty, more good stuff to share. That brings us to our Bit; momentous words of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. ‘Not that which goeth into the mouth that defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.’

Yeh friends, it’s what comes out of our mouths that defiles us, makes us nasty and angry and otherwise negative, not what goes in. As Jesus later on expatiates to the His disciples, when they didn’t understand His parable, re the blind leading the blind (Matt.15:13) ‘Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out (eliminated) into the draught?

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the 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 defileth not a man.’ (Matt.15:16-20)

Yes my people, the scribes and Pharisees had complained earlier on about the disciples eating with unwashed hands, which was a big thing in Jewish society back then. But Jesus put them in their place by telling them about all the hypocritical things that they did, that came from within them, that were much worse than eating with unwashed hands. (Matt.15:1-11)

So friends, let’s spend some time this weekend pondering the state of our own hearts nuh, to see what’s in there that will tend to defile us when we open our mouths. And whatever we find, please, let’s ask the Lord to help us eradicate it, so that when we speak, only good stuff will come forth. Much LOVE!

…every man…will eventually give account…for every word he has ever spoken…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 May 2021 Matthew 15:11.

Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 March 2018 Matthew 15:11.

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