Overflow Of The Heart

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

- Luke 6:45

What exactly are we keeping in our hearts, today?

Take a moment to look inside, Jesus tells us, as it will come out of our mouths and spill into our lives.

Our words can be used as relentlessly lethal weapons, as verbal shots fired that can leave agonizing scars on others’ souls and minds; or conversely, they can be bouquets of sweet encouragements, affirmations, gentle-handed honest truths, each syllable a block on which to build others up and lead us all closer to becoming more and more like Jesus in our apprenticeships under Him.

In James 3, the brother of Jesus describes the tongue in a pretty brutal way:

It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse others, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. This should not be.

- James 3:8-10

No one can tame the tongue because its source of influence lies in the overflow of our heart, which Jeremiah tells us is deceitful beyond all cures.

If you can’t say “amen”, say “ouch”, as Jared tends to say!

Hearing your own heart described this way may feel massively defeating, maybe even insurmountable in remedying. Does this all mean we should just give up and not even bother? Jesus spells it out for us with a strong “No!” We’re called upon to store up good in our hearts so that good will come overflowing out into our very being. The word “good” in the original Greek is the word “agathos”, which means useful, profitable, benevolent. This word is the essence of a beneficial advantage unto others – a promoting of others’ welfares. It also resembles inherent goodness, and any virtuous thing.

That being said – we are called upon to have a virtuous, upright, good, useful, benevolent, others-focused heart.

Now, that sounds pretty good to me, but how do we have a heart within us that exemplifies all of these good things? Jesus once again spells it out for us – we must “store up good” within ourselves.

Oxford dictionary defines “store up” as such: “A quantity of something kept available for use… provisions for future use… kept in readiness … considered important or valuable… something of particular purpose accumulated for use.”

The phrase that jumped out to me the most was to “be prepared with what is most valuable” for use! If we have truth kept and stored within us, we have to use it! We can’t just hold onto it for the sake of knowledge that just makes us look wiser or more well-read. It's kept for the sake of building and investing in those around us. If we have an abundance of love within ourselves (from Jesus, family, friends), it only makes sense that it has to spill over onto those we come into contact with. The list could go on and on.

Now - how do both good and bad end up within us?

What do we choose to put into our minds and hearts? What do we choose to put before our eyes? What do we choose to think about? To take time with? To desire? These are all very important things to take an honest stock of.

In Philipians 4:8, it says this:

…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

- Philippians 4:8

By honing in on, and doing all we can to live a life more in line with this call to action within our thoughts and inner beings, we can let the Lord build up a storehouse of kindness and blessing for those around us…

… that will also bring a sweet, fulfilling benefit to ourselves as we’ll just be filling our souls with more and more of who Jesus is.

Just like it says in Isaiah 33 verse 6:

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is key to this treasure.

- Isaiah 33:6

Ethan Rounds

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