From Chapter 3—Remaking America: Heart Change or Political Change

Making a list of grievances is pretty easy, but how we bring about changes to this list in a lasting, biblical way is a different story. The answer, however, begins with a simple realization: enduring moral and spiritual change only come from a change in the human heart. The change we desire in our culture—rightly desire—can only be brought about if the people’s hearts change first.

Jesus taught this on several occasions. One especially clear example is from Matthew 15:19: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”

In the first half of this chapter, Jesus is teaching his disciples about the importance of focusing on the inner person as the fountain of life’s actions. Erecting an outward code for the people and themselves, the Pharisees had neglected the inner motivation to keep such a code. Jesus pointed out how, though they often kept the outward rule, they had failed the inward test of the heart (Matthew 15:3–11). “What goes into a man’s mouth,” he cried, “does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean’” (11). Forthwith, the disciples showed their ignorance of this simple spiritual rule, and Jesus rebuked them for not already understanding it (12–16). Then he explains himself, expressly stating the heart-level principle in verse nineteen.