"What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."
Matthew 15:11 (NIV)
This passage in Galatians is a great tool for self-evaluation. The acts of the flesh are listed and the fruits of the Spirit are listed. These are not rules to follow but behaviours to observe.
How do we line up? If we see behaviours of the flesh exhibited in our lives over this past week and seek to turn them into fruits of the Spirit, then we are told to live by the Spirit. Seek Him. Live in repentance and rest on the Spirit of God within us.
Drunkenness is mentioned as an act of the flesh, but this list is dominated by other behaviors and attitudes such as hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy. These items are harder to identify and are easier to cover up than drunkenness. Our Lord helps us with identifying this fleshly behaviour when He points us to what comes out of our mouth. He is teaching us that what we drink isn’t our issue, but what we say is!
I spotted this in a Christian brother recently (it is always easier for us to see this in others). He was conversing with me about this and that, and then mentioned some sins that he “had heard” that another brother was involved in. I have been thinking about this since it happened. I wish it hadn’t been said, and I wish I hadn’t heard it.
What drives gossip? What is behind us running other people down; judging them and sentencing them with our mouths. As I type this I just realized that I had done this last night at the rink - no confrontation, no brawling, no anger, but words spoken in judgment, that lift my boy up by tearing others down. What drives this? Where does it come from? It comes from my flesh, and I would say that this is a bigger issue in our Christian circles then drunkenness ever will be. Paul seems to think this is a bigger issue for the Galatians, and our Lord obviously taught that what we say is way more important that what we drink. May we live (walk) by the Spirit this day!
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