I shifted feet, my eyes flitting around the room. Our church’s youth choir practiced for weeks and tonight we showed our stuff. My friends and I sang to great acclaim among an audience of doting parents.

Most members of the choir sang a solo, a few more than one. The choir director asked everyone to sing individually for her, and every kid with even a semblance of tone garnered a few lines, my brother included. Not me, however. What came out of my mouth failed to meet even the indulgent standards of this small church youth choir.

While I stood nicely dressed and groomed, when I opened my mouth the choir director winched, then recovered nicely. Singing was not in my future—best pay attention to other subjects at school.

Jesus got at a similar point in a discussion on religion. In his culture pious people washed their hands before eating, following the law to avoid religious defilement. Jesus commented on the practice, along with the lack of character behind it:

What comes out the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.

Ritual religion fails to scrub the heart. What comes out of the mouth—our behavior and thoughts—exposes what’s going on in the soul. While we may present an acceptable facade, the Lord knows the corruption within.

Hypocrites appear just right on the outside but smell inside. I notice the hypocrisy in others, but often fail to take a deeper look at myself.

Learning of my lack of singing talent only bothered me for a few minutes. I happily accepted my place on the back row, grateful to not warble in front of a crowd. Life is better when our outside matches our inside.

Life really sings when we allow the Lord to work on the issues of the heart, when hand washing turns into soul washing.

Matthew 15 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Nathan Dumlao