Repost from 2006

”A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45). This verse is pretty clear. What is in your heart is usually what you’re going to be talking about and thinking about. But, some people are good at saying the right things according to who they’re around. You know anybody like that? They cover up what’s in their heart pretty well.  But sometimes it comes out.

I heard this analogy the other day that made it clearer to me. A preacher said, “Whatever you’re full of is going to spill over when you get bumped.” Now I can see that! If a glass is full of water and you bump it or shake it, it’s going to spill over the side and everyone around will know it and may even get wet.  When we, as Christians, are bumped, jostled, hit, jolted or in some way tested, whatever we’re full of is going to dictate the reaction we’ll display. If we’re full of God, we’ll react correctly, we’ll be a good witness to those around us and God will be pleased. If we’re full of something else, we’ll probably embarrass ourselves, be a bad witness and have to repent.

Think about it; how do you react when someone doesn’t move right away when the light turns green? Or when you hit your toe on the couch leg? Or when someone falsely accuses you or wrongly mistreats you? What about when if the ref or umpire makes a bad call?  If we’re sloshing junk over on those around us, we need to repent and ask God to empty our dirty vessel, clean it up and refill it to overflowing with Himself.  And we may even have to apologize to someone.  If you can identify with any of this, you need to repent today and get your vessel updated.  Then start filling it every day with God’s Word, prayer, and the practice of speaking good things from your heart.  What’s in your heart?