Whatever is in our hearts determines what we say and the actions we take. If we’re filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit, we radiate His light, peace, and strength. When we’re not filled, other stuff pours out.
Speaking love comes from a heart that sees people as being created in God’s image, worthy of our time and respect. Speaking hatred and gossip, reveling in the pain and denigration of others come from a heart that refuses to believe those created in God’s image are worthy of anything.
We must recognize that any thing, any thought, any belief that is ANTI-God is E V I L.
The enemy of our souls doesn’t really mind when we read the Bible. He’s read it many times. He likely knows it better than we do. But he reads the Word so that he can twist it and use it as a bludgeon to hurt people.
He’s subtle, that evil one. He knows that blatantly spouting his anti-God message would send us straight to the scripture and to the Almighty. Instead, he makes his claims to scripture sound so close to the actual word that unless we are submerged in the scripture, we don’t notice the difference.
Jesus said that the treasury of the heart must be filled with good for good to be displayed in our lives. Harboring anger, hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness will never cause love, peace, and joy to be revealed in us. Keeping the trauma of the past bottled up and fed by the lies of the enemy will always result in ugly pouring out on those around us. Good cannot be produced from evil. It just doesn’t work that way.
If you find yourself consistently responding to life with anger and bitterness, you need to check the treasury of your heart. If you are holding on to a hurt and your life is built on never experiencing hurt again, you need to take an inventory of your heart’s treasury. Even if you were doing great last week, you might be living from a heart treasury that is filled with the wrong things. It happens.
See, we are like leaky buckets with big old holes in them. Whatever is put into our buckets flows right back out, leaving us empty for a new filling. Sometimes that filling comes from the wrong place. The only way to remain filled with God’s goodness and allow it to overflow onto others is to be immersed in Him. That way the holes are filled. Then, as He pours into us more and more, there is overflow rather than spillage.
It may be time to take a look at your life and pay particular attention to your words. When you speak to someone, are you always critical? Do you couch gossip in the form of a prayer request? Does your unforgiveness of someone keep you from worshipping God fully?
Please, don’t despair! There is a solution. God said if we confess our sins — our shortcomings, our willful disobedience, our perversion of the good for evil — then HE is faithful and just, forgiving our sins and cleaning us up from all that unrighteousness. Just agree with Him that your heart is ugly and in need of His attention. Allow Him to clear out the ugly and pour in the beauty that is His Spirit.
Then, as you live, you’ll see Him pour over your edges into the lives of others, blessing them, helping them, loving them through you.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
