In Matt 15:11, Jesus says it is not what we eat (or what comes from the outside) that defiles man. He goes on to say that it is what issues forth from our hearts that defiles us.

So, if we are getting upset with people, who should we blame? Them? Do they have the power to pull our strings and make us angry or sad? If nothing from the outside can defile us, who is pulling our strings? Truly it is our reaction to them that is causing us to get upset. If we reacted differently, what might be the result? How do we react differently? Reacting differently would require a change of heart. It is an inside job. It is God's desire that we have a pure heart, so it must be possible. How can we obtain a pure heart and all its benefits, like peace of mind? The key may be in Matthew 7:2:

Mat 7:2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again. (MKJV)

I like the Contemporary English Version below, also.

Mat 7:2 God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them. (CEV)

From the Word comes these thought provoking ideas. Whatever we give to others will be given back to us. By looking at this statement in reverse (whatever we receive from others could be the result of what we have given) we can decide whether or not we want to ask God to give our hearts a makeover. If our hearts are in a defiled state, then some people will appear to be absolute defilement to us. If our hearts are in a more mature state in Christ, people will appear more reasonable to us. Have the people changed? No. Our hearts have.

Does God send people to upset us? He sure does! Looking at "With whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again" from Matt 7:2, we can ask, who is it that is judging us and determining our fate by measuring what we gave, and then giving that back to us? Only God knows how much and what he has to give back to us, according to what we gave out. Only He knows our hearts backward and forward, inside and out.

It is very important that we understand, it often isn't others who are to blame in our lives for our troubles. It is we who bring circumstances upon ourselves by our defiled or pure heart. What if it looks as if we are being treated unfairly? Appearances can be deceiving. How things add up depends upon what we believe the problem is. If I have a defiled heart, it will always look as if I am being treated unfairly. Everything will appear to add up to that conclusion, because my heart is defiled. From my heart's point of view, I am determined to believe that my world is filled with people who are ignorant, stupid, disgusting, uncaring and thoughtless. My perception that I am being given the shaft by humanity, will not be easily undone. Why? Because I am so determined to believe that things on the outside, determine my fate, pull my strings, defile me, etc. And God will continue to give me the proof of this by sending people to do exactly what my heart believes about them.

In other words, God gives us what our hearts believe and if our hearts are defiled, we get a defiled world with plenty of people who prove that we are being treated unfairly. True, this world is undoubtedly wicked and defiled, but focusing on others' defilement is not what God wants us to do. Consider that God sends these people as "mirrors" to give us a clear image of our own hearts so that our own hearts can be purified. If our hearts were pure, what kind of world would we then see? Perhaps we would see the cycle of pain we cause one another and ourselves transform into compassion on the mirror-faces of those around us.

This is my goal. This is what I want to see. God has given me the tools I need to see it. I know if I am the victim of tons of injustice and unfairness, my heart needs to be worked on and I will go to my knees and pray to God, unloading my burdens to Him so that my world can be more reflective of a pure heart.

In this way, does it make sense that people are not to be shunned or run from because of what they are doing to us? They are merely showing us our defiled hearts. We mustn't run from them but run toward the Lord and pray to Him, asking Him to change our hearts. Strangely and against all worldly logic, as our hearts change because of our petitions to the Lord that He change us, the peace we have been struggling to find, will come. It is a law of God. It is infallible. If it doesn't work, it is we who are failing it, not it that is failing us.

I want to stop for a moment and clarify that I am not speaking of situations where an innocent person has been the victim of something unprovoked. A molested child, a drive-by shooting, or other crime are not situations that we bring upon ourselves and I do not want to imply such. These are the works of Satan, who is in rebellion to God. We can trust God to work these things out for our good, but God doesn't plan harm for us. This is a fallen world where evil can rain on the just and unjust, alike. Once something of this nature has happened to us, it is our duty to return God's sanity of forgiveness to the insanity of the world. These types of events, too, since they happen in this world can be motivations to drive us to our knees and bring us even closer to the Lord.

On the other hand, there are people who cause us to love. Often they are our family and friends but they could also be national figures or prominent individuals in history. The Word says it is easy to love some people but it beckons us to make a real effort to love those who despitefully use us. How can we do this?

We can do this because we understand the law that God set in place. We can love the people who abuse us because they are showing us our defiled hearts and this can cause us to run to God, asking for Him to change us totally from the inside out. We can love those who love us AND those who hate us and would spitefully use us because both kinds of people can bring us closer to our Lord and Savior, closer to God.

So the next time someone appears to be pulling our strings, perhaps we can look past them to God's mighty Hand and understand it is He Who is overseeing the strings. God cares for us so much that He wants us to want to come to Him, as a child comes to his daddy, and let Him change us and mold us into someone more representative of Himself. It is always God who pulls the strings, never another person. It is always God inviting us to come unto Him. The person who appears to be causing the problems deserves nothing but love. Now you know why.

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