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World Changing Words Devotional-Day 4

by David Joynt on August 05, 2020


MATTHEW 15:11 | 11 It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.

 Encounters with God strip away any false notions we have of our moral superiority on religious rites, esteem, self-confidence—it all seems paltry and pretentious when we see God’s goodness. Jewish rituals of purification achieved a ceremonial cleanness, but Jesus points at their fallacy—it is our thoughts and words that pollute us. Outward cleanliness and ritual propriety can go along with greed, anger, lust, and selfishness.

 Fortunately Jesus also forgives sins, unconditionally. He asked only for sincerity, a deep recognition of our need. This is what Isaiah expresses in his “woe.”

 Track your words and thoughts for one hour today. Use Isaiah’s “woe” as a confessional prayer.

 

Tags: words, woe

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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