SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/21/2022 10:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Principle”
Bible Reading & Meditation Referenced: Matthew
12:34b-35
Message of the verses: “For the mouth
speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 "The good man brings out of his
good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil
treasure what is evil.”
We
have been talking about the things that go on in the inside of a person will
eventually come out in their speech, and so the person who harbors ill will
against someone will eventually express those feelings. Also the person who is filled with lustful
thoughts will eventually express those in crude or suggestive remarks. There is more to this as the person who is
persistently angry and hateful will sooner or later put those feelings into
words, and in the same way, the person who is genuinely loving, kind, and
considerate cannot help expressing those feelings in words and also in
actions. That is the good side, and this
is much better than the bad side, but we have to remember that even those of us
who are believers still have that old nature or flesh that we have to deal with
each and every day of our lives.
There
is a story in the story of Job from a man named Elihu, and he was one of the
youngest of those who came to confront Job, and so he had to wait a long time
before the other three older ones stopped talking to and about Job. He says the following in Job 32:18-20 “18 “For
I am full of words; The spirit within me constrains me. 19 “Behold, my belly is
like unvented wine, Like new wineskins it is about to burst. 20 “Let me speak
that I may get relief; Let me open my lips and answer.” Elihu was bursting in side as he waited his
turn to turn on Job about his supposable sin.
John
MacArthur writes “What the heart, or the mind, dwells on and feeds on is what it
is full of; and that which fills the heart it is that which the mouth inevitably
speaks. A person may carefully monitor
his words most of the time, but the pressure of evil thoughts, anger, stress,
pain, or the association with vulgar friends will sometimes force his real
thoughts and attitudes to the surface in the form of words.”
If
you have ever read through or studied the book of James you will know that he
understood that principle and gave several powerful warnings about the
tongue. “If anyone thinks himself to be
religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own
heart, this man’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26). “But no one can tame the tongue; it is
a restless evil and full of deadly poison” (James 3:8). The apostle Paul also has some things to
write about in summing up his description of men’s depraved nature he writes “13
“Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced
deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness’” (Romans 3:13-14 NKJV). One
more illustration comes from Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says
to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you.”
Jesus then expands on the principle that He just
stated, as He then gives the positive and the negative aspects of it: "The
good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man
brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”
MacArthur
explains “Treasure is from thesaurus,
which means storehouse or treasury and is the term from which we get the
English thesaurus, a treasury of
words. A person’s heart is the treasury
of his thoughts, ambitions, desires, loves, attitudes, and loyalties. It is the reservoir from which the mouth
draws its expressions. It is axiomatic
that a good treasure brings forth what is good, and an evil treasure brings
forth what is evil. ‘Does a fountain
send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? James asked (James
3:11).
“A
common expression in the computer world is GIGO, which stands for ‘Garbage in,
garbage out.’ In other words, the
quality of data entered determines the quality of the results produced from
that data. In exactly the same way, the
quality of what is in a person’s heart determines the quality of speech his
mouth produces.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I suppose one could say after reading this
that their toes may have been stepped on.
I can learn from this to monitor what comes out of my mouth and then
seek the Lord to change me more and more from the inside so the outside will
reflect the new changes. 2Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror
the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to see 2 Corinthians 3:18 working in
my life.
2/21/2022 10:55 AM
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