TODAY'S BIBLE PASSAGES
Exodus 11:1-12:28; Psalm 45:1-7; Matthew 10-12
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SUGGESTED FAST: RADIO, PODCASTS AND MUSIC
This week, consider trading your favorite podcast or your daily dose of music or talk radio for silence and solitude. Instead of turning on something when you get in the car, use this time to ask God to fill your heart and mind with His presence and to hear His voice more clearly. Consider choosing a few verses to memorize and use the time you’d normally spend listening to music, the radio or a podcast in thoughtful meditation of God’s Word.
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PASSAGE: MATTHEW 15:10-20
And he called the people to him and said to them, “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.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
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DEVOTIONAL
In His confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus emphasizes a core gospel principle: The root of our sin is within the heart. Acts of piety are meaningless if there is not an inward change. During Lent, we are reminded that our good works are not steps to holiness; they are acts of devotion toward a loving Savior. During this season, our hearts are more exposed as we deny self. Through fasting, prayer and contemplation, we begin to see what areas of our hearts are still drawn toward lesser things. Denying self doesn’t remove what’s in our hearts—it simply exposes it. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word can our hearts begin to see transformation. John tells the Church, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Place your heart before the Lord in the light, ask Him to expose any wayward part and request His grace to change. We don’t want to deny self for its own sake but to reorient our hearts back toward a loving God who has secured our redemption in Christ. May the Spirit work in your heart this week as you continue on your journey with Christ in the wilderness.
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REFLECTION
Take a moment to sit in silence, asking the Lord to expose areas of your life in need of change. Write down those lesser things you find your heart drifting toward. Now pray, affirming God’s grace in your life and requesting more of His grace to change.
Think about times in your life when you have trusted in acts of piety/good works. What was your motivation? What was the outcome?
How might beginning with God’s grace and forgiveness, rather than works, affect your spiritual life?
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SONG: “IN CHRIST ALONE”
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the pow’r of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand

Lent Guide Courtesy of The Village Church