Mark 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
“Hey, Garbage Mouth! Watch your language!”
It was a bit hypocritical for the guy who said it to me to do so, but nevertheless it had enough impact that 23 years later I still remember it. Thing is though, he wasn’t lying. I had a garbage mouth. Every other word out of my mouth was either foul, profane or vulgar. I guess I’d never really thought much about it.
I suppose then that is why the scripture verse above holds meaning for me. So much in life can be overcome with a little work and a little change, but everything can collapse around you in desolation by a word spoken out of place or a deed left undone or worse.
That little Baptist church was in a small town made up of status-conscience, status seeking, somewhat wealthy folks whose idea of fellowship didn’t really include folks from the trailer parks. This church though had a lot of people in it who were not like the townsfolk around them. Of course there were those who struggled with a rich people complex. Trying always to prove how they didn’t think they were better than other, less affluent folks.
I didn’t really notice at first because I was so awed by the experience of being part of a group of people who were “good”. I had a lot to learn. It was a good feeling to sit there with people who I believed were somehow more than me as far as being a christian or even being a decent human being. Something about it all seemed so clean. I was inspired by it all. So I drank it all in, I started reading the bible and praying and I tried to be in church whenever the doors were open.
My life was changing a lot and I was in love with the change. I wanted to share that change with my family and my friends. Strangely though it almost seemed to me that they preferred me the way I had been before. So over time most of my old friends just faded out of my life. I missed them and tried to keep them, but I guess I was trying to be more than they needed me to be or something. My family. I love my family, but I was never very good at showing it. The new Dave was accepted by them and even defended, but I felt kind of estranged when we would all get together for holidays and such.
U2 was right though, separation brings about isolation, temptation and desolation.
I became so enamored with the change in my life that in time it became the yard stick I used to measure not just my life in Christ, but everyone else’s as well. All I wanted was more change. To be more holy, to be more different. To be more separated from the world. I realize now that this had become more important to me than loving God and loving others, more important than the gospel itself. It had become the thing I worshipped.
I wanted to erase the angry, thieving, twisted, profane, dirty little white boy, and draw a new picture. Guess what. You can do it. In many people’s eyes you can be someone else. So much so that when you tell them about your life before they have difficulty believing that you are who you say you were. Of course those who knew you then would have a different take on such a thing. Some will fail to accept that anything has changed, some will embrace the change as inspiring, some will just accept it and some may even hate you or the change for it.
But the things you say and do can and will impact how others view who are and those things which come forth from your mouth are the things for which you will be judged by them and it is that which will defile you in their eyes.
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