Good Things From The Heart

Matthew 12:34 (NRSV)

‘For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks’ 

Einstein said that ‘the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.’ Well, let me tell you, if this is true then I am the poster girl for insanity because sometimes I feel as though my brain just fails to engage and I can find myself repeating the same mistakes over and over again. So, in theory I understand the connection between cause and effect but I get stuck in cycles, where I just continually do the exact thing I know I shouldn’t.

This is definitely true at times in my spiritual life. Like a ‘you-are-what-you--eat’ diet, I can find myself expecting ripe, sweet fruit to grow from a spiritual life that is malnourished.

I don’t know if you’ve ever found yourself in a season like this, where you have felt stuck in habits that you know are cultivating bad or no fruit at all, but you don’t seem to be able to snap yourself out of it. Maybe it’s been a season where you’ve really struggled to get into Scripture or pray, or where you’ve got yourself mixed up in friendship groups that haven’t been helpful to your faith, or where you’ve allowed your job or your finances or your relationship to become more important than Jesus.

Sometimes we can feel as though we are trapped in cycles that we can’t get under control.  But the promise of this passage is that when we fill our hearts with good things, the words that will flow out of it will be good too. If you are struggling to say the right things, the instruction is really simple; nurture your heart, welcome the Spirit and from that abundant place your mouth will speak life.

Prayer – Father, thank you that your Spirit is always available to us, transforming and renewing our hearts. Today, would you break the destructive cycles within us, refreshing our spirits and overflowing into the words we speak.