Check your heart

Luke 6:43-49

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 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. 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Many of us are familiar with this passage of Scripture from the book of Luke. I've been thinking a lot lately about verses 45 & 46. There is a LOT of anger (dare I say hate) in the world around us right now.Where are we as Christians in all of this? Are we guarding our own hearts? Because God's word clearly states that the words we speak come bubbling up from our heart (not our supposed great intellect.) If you're finding yourself speaking unkind words, it's not time to point fingers, it's time to search your own heart. King David, in the Psalms, cried out for God to search his heart ( and clean up any sin He found there.) 

When is the last time you asked God to clean up your heart? When is the last time I asked God to clean up mine? In order to NOT be like verse 46, but rather do what Christ commands, we must first have our hearts examined and cleaned. In America, we spend this month being thankful. Why is that our focus only in November? Christ has dome an amazing thing in laying down His life in exchange to pay for our sins. The Bible is full of thankfulness. Check it our for yourself. I got out our concordances. In Strong's (KJV) concordance, there are 139 references to thank/ thankful/ thankfulness/ thanksgiving. The NIV Exhaustive Concordance lists 150 verse references.

So, if your heart needs a little lift, and some cleaning, might I suggest you spend some time today with God, being thankful, and asking Him to do the cleaning? You'll be glad you did. The overflow of your heart will be thankfulness, not complaining. Then you'll be able to continue on in this lost world, doing as 1 Thessalonians 5:18 commands, "giving thanks in all circumstances!"