Putting Things in Storage

Storage buildings -- it must be a great business. They're popping up all over the place. As I see them, I'm wondering, "What are people putting in all those things?" I don't know. But I can guarantee you this: Whatever they put in them, that's all that they're going to get out of them.

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

When I read that verse, I'm usually thinking of the result: What comes out of the mouth. After all, we want what comes out to sound good -- to make a good impression.

But that is looking at this verse backwards. Jesus is saying that whatever comes out of a person's mouth is the result of what has been stored in the heart. We can't expect good to come out of the mouth of a polluted source. The spillway of a lake is only going to deliver the quality of water that has entered it. It can deliver nothing else!

So, what are we storing up in our hearts? What do we take in through what we view, read, or think on? Remember the simple principle: Garbage in, garbage out. I want my heart to be God's throne. He shouldn't have to share it with garbage.