words reveal the heart
Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
Matthew 12:33-35
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Want to get a good look at the state of your heart? Pay close attention to the words you speak verbally, and also internally.
I seem to revisit this truth again and again. It's pretty clear from scripture that whatever comes out of us, is directly related to what's going on inside of us.
I'm finding that it is supremely difficult to say good things, or at a more deeper level, think and believe good things when my heart is not abounding in God's love. When my mind and heart are not "set on things above", I find that my actions and words betray every good intention I may have and when I want to speak or do good, evil cannot help but overflow.
We can't white-knuckle this either. Your heart will bleed out into everything you do. And it can't take a simple gut-check or resolve to "be a better person" that will do it either.
We need to abide in the perfect, love of Christ. Abiding and leaning upon Him and experiencing His love over us will well up in our hearts and minds a renewal of love for others. Even when our initial response may be return evil for evil, remaining in the love of Christ in our hearts will immediately allow us to overflow that love and cover others.
This is so essential in relationships. You will get nowhere fast, if one of you are not willing to die first.
That's exactly what Jesus did for us. We refused to die to ourselves and our sin. He chose to die for us first. We must model that and do the same for others.
Matthew 12:33-35
---
Want to get a good look at the state of your heart? Pay close attention to the words you speak verbally, and also internally.
I seem to revisit this truth again and again. It's pretty clear from scripture that whatever comes out of us, is directly related to what's going on inside of us.
I'm finding that it is supremely difficult to say good things, or at a more deeper level, think and believe good things when my heart is not abounding in God's love. When my mind and heart are not "set on things above", I find that my actions and words betray every good intention I may have and when I want to speak or do good, evil cannot help but overflow.
We can't white-knuckle this either. Your heart will bleed out into everything you do. And it can't take a simple gut-check or resolve to "be a better person" that will do it either.
We need to abide in the perfect, love of Christ. Abiding and leaning upon Him and experiencing His love over us will well up in our hearts and minds a renewal of love for others. Even when our initial response may be return evil for evil, remaining in the love of Christ in our hearts will immediately allow us to overflow that love and cover others.
This is so essential in relationships. You will get nowhere fast, if one of you are not willing to die first.
That's exactly what Jesus did for us. We refused to die to ourselves and our sin. He chose to die for us first. We must model that and do the same for others.
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