It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.
Matthew 15:11 CEB
Not every private Christian school is weird, but the private Christian school I attended for one semester in 4th grade was definitely weird.
There were all sorts of rules about things you were supposed to avoid: cartoons, books, music—if it wasn’t Christian it was probably forbidden. Now there’s wisdom in avoiding the consumption of things that are unhealthy, but what made this school so strange was that it was so selectively lenient. Kids at this school were permitted to be bullies, saying and doing all sorts of mean things as long as they followed the peculiar regulations enforced by the teachers.
As absurd as this may sound, it’s actually quite natural for subcultures to develop certain rules that separate the conforming elites from the deviant outsiders.
For those of us who pride ourselves as upstanding rule-keepers, Jesus reminds us, humans made in God’s image, that the words and actions we really ought to avoid are those that harm other humans who are also made in God’s image.
We Christians are called to conform to the image of Christ, who demonstrated self-denying love and kindness to all God’s children.
Oh Lord, help us build others up and avoid the temptation to tear others down. Grant us the strength of the Holy Spirit to do this. Amen.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. We plan to post a weekly devotional and a monthly topical reflection AND we want to be as interactive as possible. Please share your thoughts and questions—we’d be thrilled to hear from you!