A Clean Heart

God was so gracious to place an entire song in my heart from

Psalm 55:10.

The lyrics to the chorus include:

Create in me a clean heart that I may know You more

I want to feel Your presence and the fullness of Your joy

As I seek to do Your Will and grow deeper with You still

Lord, create in me a clean heart today.

I must admit, most mornings I wake up singing that little chorus in my head. It's a great song with great lyrics (I can say that-not boastfully-because I know it's from the Lord)

However, over the past couple of days, I feel that God is taking me "deeper still". For two days He has lead me to the same passage of scripture in Matthew 15. Some Pharisees and teachers came to Jesus and were fussing about how the disciples had not followed the tradition of washing their hands before they ate. Jesus responded to them (about the Pharisees), "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." Ouch! I'm sure those Pharisee's weren't expecting this response when they decided to "tattle" on the disciples.

Don't we get hung up on the "right or proper thing" to do sometimes? (Now, don't get me wrong, I am all for washing hands before you eat...but that is hardly the point Jesus is trying to make.) If the Pharisees were truly worshipping, would they have even noticed the others' actions? I am reminded of how many times in a church service my mind wanders to thoughts of the music being too loud or I wish that jumpy guy would just stand still.

Distraction from true worship - in my own mind! (How thrilled Satan must be.)

Then Jesus continues, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'."

He goes on to explain that the food we put into our body "goes into the stomach and then out of the body". "But the things that come out of the body from the heart - these make a man unclean...evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander".

At first glance, I would skip right over "murder". Me? I'm not a murderer! However, a trip through James will further explain how powerful the tongue can be. Proverbs 18:21 says, "the tongue has the power of life and death". How many times have I killed the spirit of my family by not chosing to monitor my mouth? And what does that say about my heart? Matthew 12:34 says clearly, "out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."

More than ever, I want to have my heart Cloroxed by Christ so that the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart are acceptable in His sight (Psalm 19:14). Not just "cleaned" but DISINFECTED! Webster's tells us that disinfecting is to free from infection especially by destroying harmful microorganisms! I want a deep down clean - so that everything that might infect my being will be wiped out!

I am so thankful to have a Heavenly Father who loves me enough to point out what I need to work on. No condemnations, only grace and chances.

Lord, create in me a CLEAN heart today.