Wow... it's been a while.

"...But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

- Matthew 15:18-20 -

*from the Revised Common Lectionary reading assigned to Aug. 14

Hi.

I'm back.

Well... I really never left. Just stopped blogging for awhile.

Ha, awhile... like two years.

Anyway...

(if you want to catch up on my last two years, see the note at the end of this blog)

I pulled the above statement out of the scripture for today 'cause it's really a no-brainer...

Or is it?

Yeah, it is... it's just bloody hard to do.

Now most of us haven't committed the 'big gun' crimes named in the scripture; slander, false-witness, theft, fornication, adultery, murder (and maybe we should leave out 'fornication' for now as well hummm...). However, the statement begins by saying, literally, "For out of the heart come evil intentions..."...

And brother, Evil Intentions is what I'm talking about.

How evil?

Well, that is a good question. Also one that folks like to skirt 'cause they want to believe that their own intentions aren't 'evil' at all.

evil
adj: ˈē-vəl, British often & US also ˈē-(ˌ)vil

1 a : morally reprehensible : sinful, wicked b : arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct
2 a archaic : inferior b : causing discomfort or repulsion : offensive c : disagreeable
3 a : causing harm : pernicious b : marked by misfortune : unlucky

Please pay particular attention to definition 1:b...

Bad conduct baby...

We're all guilty.

Like when you talk about a friend behind their back, or when you squeeze in front of the slow old woman in the check-out line, or when you rat out a co-worker to the boss in hopes of gaining a promotion, or when you sneak $20 out of your spouse's wallet, or when you refuse to let the other car in at the merge lane on the freeway, or when you pocket that stick of gum without paying for it, or when you cut someone off when they're telling a story, or when you ignore your friends telephone call because you just don't feel like talking, or when you cheat on that math test, or when you say the one thing you know will hurt the most when the argument's not going your way, or when...

Etc, etc, etc...

We all do it, the list goes on ad infinitum. And what it boils down to is bad conduct.

What Jesus is suggesting is we have to try harder NOT to take the 'low' road. Try harder to listen when people talk, to turn the other cheek in the heat of the moment,
to not take everything so damn personally.

Lighten up would ya?

Over the past couple of years I've been trying hard to take the 'high' road. I catch myself failing again and again, but I'm learning and I'm getting better. But it's work.

Hard, deliberate work.

Take the time to really look at yourself, your actions in everyday life, the little things. Then admit where you're, well, wrong. Wrong acting, wrong speaking, wrong thinking...

And then, with God's help, try to make a change.

You'll be suprised.

I was...

and still am.

Peace.

*my personal story can be found at 'Cerebration' on blogspot.com*