He then called the crowd together and said, “Listen, and take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life, but what you vomit up.” Matthew 15:10-11 (MSG)

I’ve watched with interest the growing craze for natural, organic, and healthy foods. Even companies who make relatively unhealthy foods have their marketing departments working overtime to find ways to tout what little health benefit their product has in it. The cereal aisle, in particular, always makes me chuckle. All of these sugary, chemically infused breakfast foods touting how much Niacin you get in every box.

I think that eating healthy is a good thing. Nevertheless, I thought Jesus’ admonition in today’s chapter was an interesting one. You can eat all of the healthiest, most organically grown natural foods that you can find – but it won’t change a spotted soul. The true test of our soul’s health is not what we put into our mouths and bodies, but what comes out of our mouths and lives.

If what comes out of our mouths is anger, malice, selfishness, jealousy, slander, profanity, criticism, and judgement – then perhaps we should worry less about the health of our bodies and worry more about the health of our souls.