Hello, my friend, welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

The reading titled Out of the Heart was written by Marvin Williams.

A rescue mission nicknamed Operation Noah's Art might sound fun for animal lovers, but it was

a nightmare for the Nassau Society of the prevention of cruelty to animals. After receiving

complaints about the noise and the horrid stench coming from a certain house, workers

entered the Long Island home and found, later removed more than 400 animals from their

neglected conditions. We may not be holding hundreds of animals in filthy conditions, but Jesus said

we might be harboring evil and sinful thoughts and actions in our hearts that need to be exposed and

removed. In teaching his disciples

about what makes a person clean and unclean in Matthew 15, Jesus said it isn't dirty hands or

whatever enters the mouth that defiles a person, but an evil heart. The stench from our hearts will eventually leak out from our

lives. Then Jesus gave examples of evil thoughts and actions that come out of the heart. No amount of

external religious activities and rituals can make them clean. We need God to transform our hearts. We can practice Jesus's

inside-out ethic by giving him access to the squalor of our hearts and letting him remove what's

causing the stench. As Christ uncovers what's coming from our hearts, he'll help our words and actions be aligned with

his desires, and the aroma from our lives will please him.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is taken from the Gospel of Matthew,

chapter 15, verses 12 through 20.

Then the disciples came to him and asked,

Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?

He replied,

Every plant that my Heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

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