Could they not carry their own garbage this far? I grumbled to Jay as I picked up empty bottles from the beach and tossed them into the trash bin less than 20 feet away. Did leaving the beach a mess for others make them feel better about themselves? I sure hope these people are tourists. I dont want to think that any locals would treat our beach with such disrespect.
The very next day I came across a prayer I had written years earlier about judging others. My own words reminded me of how wrong I was to take pride in cleaning up other peoples messes. The truth is, I have plenty of my own that I simply ignoreespecially in the spiritual sense.
I am quick to claim that the reason I cant get my life in order is because others keep messing it up. And I am quick to conclude that the garbage stinking up my surroundings belongs to someone other than me. But neither is true. Nothing outside of me can condemn or contaminate meonly whats inside (Matt. 15:19-20). The real garbage is the attitude that causes me to turn up my nose at a tiny whiff of someone elses sin while ignoring the stench of my own.
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Insight:
In todays passage, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, a group of the religious elite in Israel. They taught that obeying the law was the most important thing, so they emphasized external behavior. Jesus called attention to the condition of the heart and essentially said, It doesnt matter if you do everything right. If your heart is bad, you are still defiled.
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