Your words are not the real you. But they do reveal the real you.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is January 15, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called Meet the Real You. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Genesis 16, Matthew 15, and Nehemiah 5.
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 15.
We all have something in common with Adam. We like to let ourselves off the hook. When God confronted Adam, he pointed at his wife and blamed God, “It was this woman you gave me!” Now, we haven’t been confronted directly by God for our sin (at least not yet), but we still let ourselves off the hook in many ways.
Think about how we do this with our words. Little kids learn the rhyme, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But we all know that is utter nonsense. We say hurtful things. We use words to wound. We use our words to complain, to criticize others, to boast. But then we try to let ourselves off the hook. We say things like, “Oh I didn’t mean it.” Or, “I was just tired.” Or, “That’s not really me.”
Our Scripture for Students today helps us see that the words that you speak are the real you. You know how sometimes you hear people say they need to “find themselves”? It’s not that hard. Just listen to the words that come out of your mouth. Let’s look at Matthew 15 to learn how the words you talk, type, or text are the real you.
Please follow along with me as I read Matthew 15:10–20,
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand:
11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”
13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.
14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding?
17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
This particular story comes to us because of a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. Remember that the Pharisees didn’t really care about being holy, they just cared about looking holy. They didn’t think it mattered what God thought about them but cared a lot about what others thought about them.
And so they fussed a lot about external and relatively insignificant things, like washing their hands before they ate or only eating foods that were considered clean. In this passage, Jesus goes right at that superficial and self-righteous way of thinking. In verses 10 and 11, he says, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
Soon the disciples come to Jesus, wringing their hands. They seem worried that they have upset the Pharisees. But Jesus isn’t concerned. He teaches his disciples, and he teaches us in verse 18, “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.” It is no wonder that the Pharisees were offended by this.
Jesus is saying, it’s not just that their words are bad, it’s that their hearts are bad. Because their words come from their hearts. And this is instructive for us as well.
First, it means that we can’t let ourselves off the hook by claiming that our words are not the real us. Nope. Words are mirrors: they show us who we really are. Think about the words you spoke yesterday, or during the last week.
If we speak complaining words, that is because we have complaining hearts that think we know better than God how our circumstances should work.
If we speak critical words, that is because we have proud hearts that think we are better than others.
If we speak angry words, that is because we have angry hearts that don’t recognize how many and how great are our sins that God has forgiven and how few and how small are the sins of others against us.
Think about your words over the last week. All of your words: words that came out of your mouth and words that went out through your screens. What do you those words tell you about who you really are? If you had to put a number on it, what percentage of those words do you think reflect the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? 75%? 50%? 25%?
If you assess your words and recognize that you need to make a change, that’s a great first step, but what happens next is really important. Let me start with won’t work: it won’t do any good to say, ok, no more complaining. No more being mean to my siblings or disrespectful to my parents. Remember that our words come from our hearts. So, if we want to change our words, we’ve got to change our hearts.
Changing our hearts in a way that changes our words is both hard and it is easy. It is hard in that we need the Holy Spirit to help. Start by praying to God and asking him for help to change.
But this kind of change is also easy. Ephesians 4:22–24 says, “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
We put on the new self when we fix our hearts and our minds on godliness. Instead of thinking complaining thoughts, we learn to thank God for our circumstances. Instead of disrespectful attitudes towards our parents, we recognize that they are a gift from God to lead us towards maturity. Instead of harboring resentment and critical thoughts of others, we focus on ways we can encourage others for the grace of God we see in them.
One more thing: the chances of any of us accurately assessing ourselves is very low. Take this to your parents and ask them about what they think your words reveal about what is happening in your heart. And then, ask for their help to change your habits of thinking and feeling. As your heart changes, your words will follow.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!