Westside Church

June 30, 2010
by Pastor Jeremiah

Have you ever found yourself sitting on the toilet thinking, “you know, this would be a great place to eat dinner?”  Yeah, me neither.  But at least one entrepreneur has turned this crazy idea into a huge profit.  The “Modern Toilet” restaurant in Taiwan has its customers going again and again and again (pun completely intentional).  In reading about this restaurant I was reminded of a phrase my mom used when I was a kid.

“Potty mouth” was how my mom referred to my verbal indiscretions.  That was always a vivid description for me.  Of course, these are two words that should never be put together.  No one would dare put his or her mouth anywhere near the toilet.  Which is what makes the “Modern Toilet” restaurant so ironic.  How could anything good ever come out of a toilet?

This wholesome discussion reminds me of a certain teaching of Jesus.  Jesus said in Matthew 15, "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "

The other day my wife and I were playing in a game of pick-up basketball together at the YMCA.  Apparently, during the game, I let fly a few choice words that she was not accustomed to hearing me say.  Now, I couldn’t remember saying anything inappropriate, so I immediately denied it.  However, as she went on to describe exactly what I said and when I said it, my memories came flooding back to me.  I then began to explain to her that I was in a competitive environment and whenever I’m in a competitive environment I can get a little out of control.  I went on to justify my behavior by explaining that these were the side effects of being married to a guy who is competitive, focused, and passionate. In other words, don’t try to domesticate me woman, I’m a wild stallion!  For the record, those excused didn’t work on her.

Unfortunately, my wife was right in being concerned about my language.  As Jesus says, what comes out of you is a reflection of what’s in your heart. If this is true, then we must learn to monitor our hearts.  The only problem is, as it says in Jeremiah 15, “the heart is deceitful beyond all things, who can know it.”  As was the case with me, sometimes we do things and we are completely unaware that we are doing them, or at least why we are doing them.  We say things like, I was under a lot of pressure, I got distracted, I couldn’t help myself.  How do we get into the habit of monitoring our hearts and what are we supposed to be looking for?

To be continued…