Luke 6:45 (CEV)
"For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."
Luke 6:45 (NLT)
"For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
Luke 6:45 (NIV)
Whatever translation you choose Luke 6:45 says the same thing. What you pour into your heart will come out of your mouth..... eventually. Having been raised in a house full of racist rants from generational prejudice, I'm not sure how I escaped being filled with such hate. I remember, years ago, a very well liked actor who spewed anti-semitic hatred. When interviewed he apologized and said he had had too much to drink..... he didn't feel that way at all. Not so! What you fill your heart with WILL, at some point, come out.... alcohol just lowers your inhibitions.
"A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
Luke 6:45 NIV
What you store up in your heart doesn't have to be a big life altering event...at least at first...it could be something that irritates you about someone or something. You remain silent.....and you remain silent......and you remain silent. ...and you tell yourself you're a good person and a good person wouldn't say THAT....so you remain silent and tell yourself it's not a big deal. But each time you remain silent that irritant festers and becomes bigger and when your heart begins to overflow and when that festering pus spills out it has the potential to do great damage and change lives. Don't get me wrong, the irritant itself could be justified. But when we "stuff" something so we don't have to confront it and it builds and builds ..what likely comes out is very hurtful. It can shatter marriages, friendships and trust.....what once was a small irritant that could have been addressed is now toxic.
God speaks a LOT about the heart. Depending on translation he mentions it at least 500 times in the New International Version and more than 800 times in the King James Version. The heart not only sustains life in our physical bodies but sustains us spiritually.
"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone (unnatural) and give them a heart of flesh (natural)."
Ezekiel 11:19
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Jeremiah 17:9
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
Proverbs 4:23
"As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart."
Proverbs 27:19
God is not fooled. He already knows our heart.
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one..."
Romans 3:10
Lest we be fooled.... we will never "arrive" at complete holiness in this earthly life. It's a constant working out.
I am one of the least confrontational people you'll ever meet. I hate confrontation. I hate conflict. I am the female version of Rodney King, "Can't we just all get along?" I was taught well to be the peacemaker, at all times, in a very volitile home. I do it well! You might say, "Well that's a good thing." But there has to be a balance between stuffing ALL of it and speaking truth in love without worrying if you'll hurt someone or if you'll be liked when you're done.
The tongue can be very sharp and hurtful...Sometimes I err on the side of extreme caution.....if you can't say something nice, say nothing at all. In other words, stuff your feelings, opinions, thoughts ,desires, wants, needs...stuff all of it because you'd rather do that then risk a relationship.
I'm well aware of the deadliness of the tongue when out of control.
"Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."
James 3:5-6
I'm also keenly aware of how sharp it can become when I speak from an overflow of stuffed stuff.
I've done it and I've been a recipient of it. It hurts and it's hurtful. Is growing a tougher skin so the arrows don't puncture so deeply a correct response? Or am I to learn from the puncture wounds how not to wound others?
I think I can definitely grow in my ability to manage conflict but I don't think I can "outgrow" my sensitive nature. What I know for sure is that I desire to please God above man. That only happens through trials of this life. So I petition my God:
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Psalms 51:10
"Being pure in heart involves having a singleness of heart toward God. A pure heart has no hypocrisy, no guile, no hidden motives. The pure heart is marked by transparency and an uncompromising desire to please God in all things. It is more than an external purity of behavior; it is an internal purity of soul."
(gotquestions.org)
Uncompromising desire......
God, you alone are what my heart desires. You are faithful and just.... above all, in all and over all. Your mercies never fail nor will you ever fail me. Shield me from the hurt of others and help me not to hurt others by my stuffed stuff. Give me courage to speak so my heart doesn't fill with anything but you. Help me to look to your approval above all others. You say you are THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. May I believe it and walk in it.
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