Luke 6:45 NKJV, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
One of the fastest ways to find out what is in the heart of a person, is to listen to what comes out of the mouth of that person. That explains why we are admonished to, “hide God’s Word in our hearts so that we will not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).” God’s Word teaches us, and it builds our character. It also softens our hearts so that we will become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. When we are seeking the Lord, and striving to walk in love towards others, that will be evident through the words we speak as well as our actions.
Several years ago I hosted a home Bible study, and one of the ladies became offended at the “harsh attitudes” of two of the other ladies that were present. She let me know a couple of days later via email, that she would not be returning to the Bible study. I apologized for the incident and invited her to return. She appreciated and accepted my apology. However, she declined to return and used Luke 6:45 as the reason why. She felt the hearts of those two ladies (by the way everyone in the group was a professing Christian) were not pure, so returning would be useless. She said, “Out of the abundance of their hearts, their mouths speak!”
The funny thing is that those same two ladies who offended her asked about her the next week. I let them know she had decided not to return to the group. They were disappointed. It was clear that they had no clue that their attitudes/words were offensive. I’m guessing that I must have missed the conversation that went on between these three ladies. After all there were a few times where several conversations we’re going on at once, (Welcome to Miami!) But anyway, it was a learning experience to be aware of not only what we say, but how we say it.
Being in South Florida, the group was very multi-cultural, so people express themselves differently. Some have stronger personalities than others. But even so, we have to make sure our personalities are in line with the Word of God. Cultural background can’t be used as an excuse to speak harshly to others. We do have to guard our hearts, even against cultural practices that don’t line up with God’s Word. Praying and asking God to help us to unlearn wrong attitudes is a must. He desires for us to be gentle in spirit.
Proverbs 4:23 NIV, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Guarding our hearts should always be a top priority. We must be aware of what we allow our eyes to see, and our ears to hear. When we are born again Christians, our hearts belong to Jesus, and we have chosen to dedicate our lives to Him. He desires for us to have clean hearts that will bring forth good things. Our hearts should be overflowing with God’s love and truth, because that is what will point others to Jesus and have an impact on those around us.
“A persons most useful asset is not a head full of knowledge but a heart full of love, and an ear ready to listen, and a hand willing to help others”. Anonymous
Drawing Closer to Christ 