Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Good/Evil Treasure

"The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks."
(Luke 6:45)

Although I don't believe that a person is either "all good" or "all bad" (we're probably closer to a mix of both), this passage from Luke 6 causes me to ponder. Whatever comes out of a person's mouth (or out of MY mouth!) is a direct reflection of the "treasure" inside a heart. Is the treasure good or evil, generally? Jesus says we can tell by what a person says. Wow.

It was Thumper (aka "Bambi" fame) who reminded us, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." While that's good advice, we need to be looking at the "bigger picture" of our language. Most of us can curb our comments at particular points (with some people or in some situations - except maybe in traffic, right!?!). But over the long term, our "treasure" is revealed by how we speak - especially when no one is around (that blows my traffic comment out of the water) or when we're surrounded by friends (and we think it's "safe" to say anything).

Do words of life and grace come out of my mouth? I hope so. But I know that's not always the case.

PRAYER: Remove any "evil treasure" frmo my heart, Lord... so I can share Your goodness in all I say and do. AMEN.

No comments: