Garbage In, Garbage Out

God, help me see how my heart needs to change to live a life that You love.

Luke 6:45 “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.”

In Luke 6, Jesus is essentially sharing a sermon with His disciples. He is telling them how to live a new life following after Him. Their lives should look different from what they were.  Whereas before, they loved their friends, now they are to love their enemies, too. Before, they thought only about themselves, and now they are told to treat others like they want to be treated.  

This new way of living is not the natural way, but Jesus tells them how this will be possible with a heart change.  In verse 45, He explains that out of the goodness of the heart comes good, and out of the evil heart comes evil.  The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. The heart also controls your attitudes
and behaviors.

We’ve all noticed this before. You spend a lot of time listening to garbage music with lyrics that are mean, crude, or just downright embarrassing, and you start feeling the change in your attitude.  You get sucked into a T.V. show and binge-watch for hours, but it’s full of people drinking and hooking up, or violence and bad language, and you start to enjoy it, even though you know it’s not okay. The more you fill your heart with the evil things of the world, the more you will talk and act like the evil world around you. The more you fill your heart with Jesus, and the things that are pleasing to Him, the more you will think, talk and act like Him. What goes in, will come out!

What are you pouring into your heart?

What changes can you make to ensure that you are putting more good into your mind, things that are pleasing to the Lord?

What do you want to remember from today’s devotion?