Wed the 14th

Luke 6:45 ⁴⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

 

You can’t un-ring a bell. Once the words have left your lips you can say you did not mean it, you can say you did not know what you were saying, but the damage is done. Just as this scripture points out, our words reflect our heart. Many people, including myself might not like to hear that, because a lot of harsh, hurtful words come out of our mouths on a daily basis, but it is a call for us, not to examine the words we use, but to examine our hearts. I know a woman whom I do not think is capable of speaking a hurtful word. Her heart is so full of love. Love of life, love of the Lord, love of her fellow man, that she never feels the need to speak harshly. Why? Because She holds no malice in her heart. That is the key. And if you read the scripture again, you will see it is spelled out for us very plainly….it is what we store up in our heart. It is what we hang on to. This scripture does not say that the good man never experiences bad things, or that he never has negative emotions. I am convinced that it is quite the opposite, the devil seems to assault the good people with more and more temptation to store up evil. We have to learn to let go of the evil. When you think of it that way, isn’t it strange that we even have to point that out? We have become a society of people who are taught to hold on to the bad, and let go of the good. As if the good intentions, the good words, the love given freely, is just a fluke, and it is the evil, hurtful things that count, and we should never forget. Think about it. The next time you are in a disagreement with someone, what pops into your head? The last time that person wronged you, or the last time they were good to you? Could you imagine how the disagreements with our spouses would go? “oh yeah honey, what you say might be true, but do you remember that time that you came home after a long day at work and cleaned the house? Well I have not forgotten that, and I want to say thank you, I love you, I am sorry that I hurt you, you did not deserve it.” Huh….what a concept…..Oh you might be thinking, well you don’t know…they deserve harsh words…..but can you really think of the Lord, and say that? Have we not been instructed to gently correct? Who had, in the time of Christ, or even in today’s world, more of a reason to store up evil than Christ? Yet He did not. Even at the time of His death, he looked upon man with love and forgiveness. He had chosen all of His life to store up good, and let the evil pass on by. As it so often does, it comes down to a very personal choice, what do you choose to store up today? What will you fill your heart with? Will you choose to reverse that though process of this world, and let the evil pass you by? Choose to store up the good, let it fill your heart to the point of overflow. Let that good spill out from your mouth, not because you have put a lot of thought into what you are going to say, but because it is all you have stored up. It will take some work, but if Christ could love the very people  that killed Him, I would think at the very least we could store up good for the people that irritate us.

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford