45 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.
What is stored up in our hearts? Beware; Jesus tells us, it will come out of our mouths. The tongue can be used as a lethal, relentless, flaming missile which assaults with hellish power or conversely, it can be used to encourage, exhort, lead others to Christ and praise the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. I love the way James describes the tongue: It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:8 (NIV) 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. James 3:9-10 (NIV) No one can tame the tongue because its source lies in the overflow of the heart which, we all understand, is deceitful beyond all cures. Does this just mean we give up and don’t even bother? Jesus tells us No! We are to store up “good” in our hearts so that “good” will come forth. The word rendered “good” is from the Greek word “Agathos” meaning benevolent, profitable, useful; it underscores the beneficial properties of something and represents something as being advantageous to another, promoting his welfare; it often signifies inherent goodness, and describes something as virtuous; a good, upright and virtuous heart. Sounds good to me! How do I go about obtaining this? If we have a good deposit of wealth stored up in our hearts, the words we will bring forth will edify and build up the hearer. Within our mouths we have the power of inflicting verbal cyanide or speaking life to those within our sphere. We owe it to ourselves and to those that we love to “store up good”. What exactly does “store up” mean? A few definitions from the Oxford dictionary shed light: . A quantity of something kept available for use.. Articles for a particular purpose accumulated for use.. Provisions for future use.. Stock with something useful.. Kept in readiness.. Considered important or valuable. What jumps out at me the most is to be prepared with what is most valuable – for use! If we have Truth stored, we must use it – it is not for knowledge sake only as that puffs up, but for building and investing in others. It reminds me of Paul’s words as he gives a charge to his beloved Timothy: 1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Tim 4:1-5 (NIV) We have all certainly heard the expression “garbage in, garbage out” referring to everything from computers to diets – this is exactly the same premise. What do we choose to put in our minds? What do we choose to put before our eyes? What do we choose to dwell on? These are all very important issues. It is hard to pull up an encouraging verse for a hurting soul (and there are many hurting souls!) if we have only had a steady diet of “steamy literature” or worldly media bombardment – it simply is not there to be found. The old adage that “you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip is true!” The Psalmist tells us:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalms 119:11 (NIV)
We should put our thoughts, actions, and words through the following “sieve” of God’s Word:8 Finally, brothers, 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. Phil 4:8 (NIV)
In doing the above, it will make us a rich storehouse of blessing for others and also bring benefit to ourselves. 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 the key to this treasure. Isaiah 33:6 (NIV)