Defilement is a Matter of the Heart

A man wearing pressed, designer slacks is walking from his downtown job to the car park.  His cologne is still pungent and the perfume is sweet to the smell.  His hair is combed just right and his facial hair trimmed perfectly.  On the way to his car, he passes a number of beggars and panhandlers that he chides and swears at in arrogant derision.  One after another he continued to chastise rudely anyone and everyone around him.

Turning the corner towards the parking ramp, he was stopped in his stride by the sight of a massive, glowing building he had never noticed before.  Outside of the doorway to the building, a neon sign buzzed and beamed, "All who enter the Kingdom through this narrow door will be blessed beyond measure with every spiritual blessing they could ever desire."  He gazed at the building's face before walking up to the stoop.

At the door was a doorman.  The doorman looked at the young, well-dressed professional and, without missing a breath, said, "Sorry, young man.  You may not enter.  You are simply too defiled for such a holy offer."  The young man is stunned.  He looks at his attire, checks his hair, examines his fingernails, and shoots back at the doorman, "You must me mistaken.  I am primped and totally clean.  I shower everyday.  Wash my hands several times a day, with soap.  You really must be mistaken; I am totally clean."  The doorman looks at the young man one more time and kindly says, "You don't understand.  It is not the externals that define defilement, but the state and nature of your heart.  If you wish to be clean, you must repent of your sin and your defiled mind."

Jesus says, as chronicled by Matthew, "It is not what goes into a person that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth (Matt. 15:11-cf. through verse 20)."  Often times humans think that if they've showered, shaved, and brushed their teeth that they are clean.  But Jesus made it clear that the dirtiness of a person is based on the state of a person's heart.  

Therefore, while many of us would esteem ourselves clean and undefiled on the outside, if we continually spew vile filth and criticism that is unloving from our mouths, we are still defiled in the sight of the Lord.  It is not enough for the outside of the cup to be clean, for it is the contents of the cup that God is concerned with.  Let us then take heed to watch our tongues with vigilance.