Why is it hard (impossible in our own strength) to
control what we say, and why can what we say open our hearts to being hurt? Do our tongues really have minds of their own
and rebel against us, like James 3 seemingly describes? The problem is not that our mouth acts
against our will, but that our words reveal what is truly on our hearts. Sure you can fake it for a while and in
certain settings, but sooner or later your mouth will expose your true self to
people who really know you. If your
heart is filled with truth, that will overflow through your mouth, and the same
is true if it is full of lies and evil.
Take a look at the following verses that speak to this connection
between our heart and mouth.
Matthew 12:34 Brood
of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matthew 15:18
But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.
Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his
heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart
brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
That’s simple enough; all we need to do to speak
good words is to have a good heart. Man,
does that open a can of worms or what?
In case some of you are thinking that your hearts are pretty good, here
are a few verses to look at that.
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked; who can know it?” and in Matthew 15:19, Jesus says, “For out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies.” We are all
born with sin in our hearts, and some of it remains in everyone, even if it’s
lurking in some hidden corner they never think about. Most of us don’t need to look hard for
problems in our hearts though, since we have plenty of them we are well aware
of.
So what’s a fella to do if we all have darkness in
our hearts, which will in turn escape from our mouths? You could try to pretend it’s not there and
fill your mind with entertainment and distractions, but that might not end well
since ignoring a major problem very rarely fixes it. God is the source and embodiment of all
truth, love, goodness, and light, and we must turn to Him if we want to be
filled with these things.
Jesus came to earth to both proclaim and live out
God’s message to us, and He is the centerpiece of history. The Old Testament pointed to Him, and the New
Testament tells us how He lived and how to follow Him. In John 15:5, Jesus declares, “I am the vine,
you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for
without Me you can do nothing.” Just as
a branch needs to be connected to a plant for it to live, grow, and produce, we
need to look to Jesus and let Him be the foundation for our lives in order to
be productive and healthy. As we connect
with Him, we will naturally grow and develop spiritually, and our hearts will
take on his character. Other metaphors
about Jesus and what He provides are that He is light, so He drives out all
darkness (John 8:12 & I John 1:5). He
gives us with living water, and He is necessary for spiritual life (John 4 and
John 7:38). And His blood redeems us and
gives us life as well (John 6). If we
don’t accept these things from Him, our spiritual lives look something like the
rotting skeletons in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Ewww!
So how do we make Jesus a part of our life and let
him bring rejuvenation and goodness to our hearts and souls? There are many ways since He is so
multi-faceted and present everywhere (if you’re thinking I could have said
omnipresent, I’m trying to keep churchy words out of this blog so anyone can
read it and not feel like it’s in a foreign language), but let’s just mention the
two most effective ways for now. First,
we need to be reading the Bible, so we can learn about Him and model our lives
after His. John 17:7 says, “Sanctify
them by your truth. Your word is truth.” If you haven’t read much of it before, I’d
recommend starting in John and reading a chapter a day (and don’t worry if you
don’t get to it every day at first). I
read a couple pages in the New Testament and a couple in the Old as well as a
Proverb and a devotional pretty much every day, but that would be a lot to
start with. It’s kinda like training for
a marathon or getting in shape, where it’s better to start slowly and build up
over time than to start really hard and give up a week later. Reading the Bible gets easier as God begins to
speak to you more through it, your ability to understand increases, and your
your desire to read naturally grows as you develop a habitat and start to see
benefits and changes. Second, we need to
spend time in prayer asking God to speak to, lead, guide, and teach us. Like any relationship, we need to invest significant
time in it if we value it and want it to grow and affect our hearts. Pastor Steve once said that you can be as
close to God as you want to be, but most of us unfortunately don’t live in the
reality that the God of the universe wants to be friends with us.
Lastly, there is a connection between how you
spend your money and where your heart is at.
Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.” I won’t get into this any deeper
right now, since I’ll write another time on what the Bible says about
money. Sneak preview: If you’re an American, chances are you spend
too much on yourself and don’t do enough to help the poor. But this is again a heart matter, so focus on
aligning your heart with God’s and your spending desires will fall in line down
the road.
I promise, next post I’ll get to applying the
stuff from the first two posts practically in our lives, and tell some shark
stories J
Note: A
great resource to use for study is www.blueletterbible.org,
since it can do keyword searches and shows everywhere a word or set of words
shows up in the Bible. Check it out and
use it if you want to delve deeper into a particular topic.
P.S. The Bible is the foundation for these
posts. If you’re reading this and have
questions about the Bible’s validity as God’s instructions for life, what makes
it different than any other religious text, or any other questions, please let
me know and I’ll do my best to help you find answers.
No comments:
Post a Comment