Where The Genuine “Me” Resides….

The heart is what matters to God. That’s where the genuine “me” resides. That’s why the proverb says, “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the well-spring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Once you realize this, it changes everything. Once you realize how wicked your heart naturally is (selfish), you realize why we need a Savior (Someone Else to be righteous for us). That’s exactly what justified means. Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sins, for He was the only One qualified to do it (sinless). Since He justified our sin (just if I had never sinned 😁), He gives us the ability to come to God. It’s His Spirit in us that makes room in our heart (giving us reason to clear out our selfishness) that allows the fruits of the Spirit to grow and reproduce. With all of this said, it’s what resides in our heart that justifies or condemns us. That’s where our focus should be as believers. That’s what we should be guarding day and night. That’s what we should fight for in the lives of others, especially our children and loved ones. That’s what God wants from us.

1 Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked Him, 2 “Why do Your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’6 In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips,but their hearts are far from Me.9 Their worship is a farce,for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” 10 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” He said, “and try to understand. 11 It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”12 Then the disciples came to Him and asked, “Do You realize You offended the Pharisees by what You just said?”13 Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by My heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14 so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”15 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.”16 “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. 17 “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.18 But the words you speak come from the heart–that’s what defiles you.19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.” Matthew 15:1-20