Intentions

For out of the heart come evil intentions . . . 

 - From Matthew 15

I thought about this word, "intentions" at some length, today. The Lord is talking about the things that really defile us. He describes what, in reality, doesn't defile us:

• Dirty hands
• Dirty food
• Dirty drink
• Dirty friends
• Dirty jobs
• Dirty clothes

Because, everything in that list cannot be avoided. You can't guarantee the purity of everything you eat. Every human you meet is going to be a bad influence, one way or another. 

It's what comes out of our own mouth; from out of our heart and mind, that defiles us. This is what destroys us. There's a list of the things that come out of the mind and mouth of humanity:

• murder
• adultery
• fornication
• theft
• false witness
• slander

Look at the list. None of us comes out innocent. It's what we think about others, how we treat them, that makes us a bad person. You can dress right, eat right, work right, play right . . . But if you even think something hateful about another person, you are guilty of self-defilement. "But, you say, some of those things don't hurt others, and are nobody else's business." Yes, they do hurt others . . . they all do. And if we had a culture that was able to dialogue principles and values, we could easily get beyond the present cultural war impasse, and resume the path to progressive win-win solutions. 

Oh . . . but "it's not gossip, I'm telling the truth."

Right. 

As of this very moment, there is a whole movement to hate people that don't put the right thing over their face . . . a mask. The way that non-maskers are treated, by total strangers, is worse than COVID-19. The masking movement has made people commit more hate towards each other, causing more lasting harm, than the virus itself. 

It's not what one fails to put over one's face that defiles a man . . . 

Oh, I don't "hate" so and so . . . I just think that . Sure . . . if it looks like hate, sounds like hate, feels likes hate . . . it must be hate. 

Is there really such a thing as good intentions? If a good-intended thing goes wrong, maybe it should not have been intended in the first place.

Maybe we should push away from intentions, and just strive to do the right thing in this moment. It's where we have the most control.