Marriage from A to Z

“Have you washed your heart lately?”

One of the things that most people do several times a day is wash their hands.  Why?  Because we were trained as children to wash our hands when they get dirty, after we have touched various things, after going to the bathroom and often times before we eat a meal.  Frequently washing our hands is important because it helps us to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others.  Just as it is necessary to wash our hands, we must wash our hearts.    However,  many of us have not been taught to wash our hearts.  This week, I want to discuss the need for us to frequently wash our hearts.

When our hearts are dirty, it is usually indicated by the following:

1. Evil thoughts
2. Telling lies
3. Killing someone with our tongue and in some cases murder
4. For married people, sleeping with someone other than our spouse
5. For singles, sleeping with someone and you are not married
6. Stealing
7. Cheating

The list could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.  Matthew 15:18-20 says, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness; blasphemies.  These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

One of the key words in this passage is defile.  Defile means to make foul, dirty or unclean, pollute, taint, debase (to reduce the quality or value of something).  Did you know that your heart could get dirty?  I don’t know about you, but I never really thought about it this way.  This is why the Bible tells us to guard our hearts. (Prov. 4:23)

Dirty hearts negatively impact relationships:

1. Our relationship with God
2. Our relationship with our spouse
3. Our relationship with others

God wants us to have clean hearts.  He is more concerned about our hearts than our hands.  He is the only One who can cleanse us from the inside out.  When our hearts are dirty, we must go to God and repent.  Pray like David prayed in Psalm 51:10. “Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  Check your heart, is it dirty or is it clean?

Until next week . . .

Carolyn