Given May 7, 2009

The Bible says, “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” Luke 6:45. This means that whatever there is more of inside you, is what will come out in casual conversation, in your thoughts, or when you are under stress.  I’ve heard it said that whatever your full of will slosh over when you get bumped like a full glass of liquid.  What are you full of?

When you’re in traffic and someone turns off without giving a signal and you almost hit them, what comes out of you?  When your computer locks up and you haven’t saved what you were working on, what do you say?  When something doesn’t go your way AGAIN, what happens?  I’ll confess, goodness is not what always comes out of me.  But I’m working on emptying the bad and filling up with the good.  “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18. This is good advice…no, it’s a command!

I have a friend who was treated very unfairly by those he worked with.  He was really done wrong.  We used to have lunch together and enjoyed good food and conversation.  But after this happened, the whole lunch was a re-hashing of what had happened to him.  I had to hear the same story and how he would not forgive them.  My friend was definitely full of unforgivenness and bitterness and it came out! How sad.  My friend used to be a minister and now, he has left the church.

Being filled with goodness doesn’t just happen, you have to work at it.  We are not completely filled with a lifetime supply of the Spirit at salvation, we need to be refilled daily.  And that takes effort.  I encourage us all to pay attention to what comes out of us daily and see if it’s what would be pleasing to God.  And if not, repent, ask forgiveness, and go to the Spirit filling station.