Good Treasure
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” Luke 6:45
I am not a planner by nature, but after years of driving 20 miles in one direction to the nearest supermarket only to come home without the main thing I went after, I learned to plan. I not only make a detailed list, but I organize my list by location of items in the store to make sure I don’t forget anything. If I lose my list, I’m in big trouble! I remember a trip to the grocery store with my oldest daughter when she was about two years old. We walked into the store and I lifted her into the shopping cart. Right away she began to look around as if she had misplaced something, so I asked her, “What are you looking for?” She looked up at me and said, “I wost my wist.” I had to laugh. Obviously, she had observed the panic and frantic searching of her mother who had lost her list a time or two!
Children naturally repeat things they hear the adults in their lives saying. The Bible teaches that the mouth speaks what’s in the heart. If you want to know what’s in your heart, hang out with young children for a while.
The heart is like a treasure chest. The mouth speaks from the contents of the heart, revealing the treasure contained, be it good treasure or evil treasure. If you’re constantly having to apologize for what comes out of your mouth (or if the small children in your life are repeating things they shouldn’t) maybe the mouth isn’t the problem after all. Maybe it’s time to examine the contents of the treasure chest.
A good place to start would be with this prayer of the David in Psalm 19:14:
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Make a habit of filling your heart with good treasure. Meditate on the word of God. Spend time in His presence. Change what’s in the heart and you’ll change what comes out of the mouth.