Christian Living

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Overflow of the Heart

You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. – Matthew 12:34 (AMP)

Our family is one that seems to pick up phrases in movies and relay them in everyday conversation. We are really good at it. It is a normal occurrence around here. But that only applies here. I remember my realization of this fact when I went to my mother’s a couple years ago. She said something and my immediate response was a movie quote. We were in Wal-Mart at the time and she looked at me like I was nuts. I tried to explain that at home, someone would have come back at me with another quote. She didn’t get it.

When I read today’s Scripture, I got out my Hebrew Greek Study Bible. Sometimes, all I can hear when I am doing a word study, is the father from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, saying, “All the words, they come from the Greek”.

The Greek word for heart in this verse is kardia. It translates: heart, mind (seat of thought and emotion). Automatically, when you look at the word, cardio probably entered your mind. Oh yes, that all too familiar word, Cardio. With the exception of doctors, exercise professionals, trainers and dieters, the word cardio doesn’t muster up feelings of the warm-fuzzies.

The thing we need to grasp in this verse is that the heart includes your mind, which is the seat of thought and emotion. Your heart can be compared to a storehouse (Matthew 12:35) for your thoughts and emotions. Why is it so important that we grasp this? Because all joking and movies quotes aside this is a very serious matter.

Proverbs 4:23 states:
Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

Now obviously, in the physical realm, we are very aware of the importance of “guarding our hearts”. Why? Your lifeblood is pumped through it. It is “the” muscle, keeping you going. Eat right and exercise is taught from grade school. The American Heart Association’s motto is Learn and Live. So much funding, education and awareness poured into physical life.

But the fact remains, this life is fleeting, it is going to pass away, there is nothing you can do to stop it. The question then becomes, are you equally pursuing, with the same amount of effort, strengthening your heart for the Spiritual life which is eternal?

What you are taking in, is going to come back out. Dams are built to retain water. There is a natural progression of things that take place if it becomes damaged. Possibly, it starts with seepage. Then it makes progress to a drip, leading to a trickle. The pressure then builds to a spray forcing a wider path for a flow. At this point everything starts cracking before the entire dam bursts.

That is a very different visualization compared to the flow of the springs of life.

What about a trash can? Our fourteen year old son is supposed to empty the garbage. I have watched this child on numerous occasions, push the trash down further and tighter to buy himself time before emptying it. I have watched as he struggles to remove the bag without tearing it because he’s pressed too much garbage down. I have seen his frustration as he has to lug a heavy bag out the door. And I have witnessed him cleaning the floor from the leaking garbage on his way out.

Why? What goes in must come out. Everything would flow much easier if he dealt with it as he should. In the end, he’s made it much more difficult on himself.

What are you putting into your heart? What are you allowing in? Are you guarding against your springs of life becoming polluted by the things of the world?

Are you allowing Jesus to deal with things in life as they come so that nothing obstructs the flow of your lifeblood? Or are you just cramming it down, pushing it in, and making room for more?

Is there hidden hurt, anger, fear, resentment building in your heart? Is there jealousy, deception or sin polluting your spring?

Are you watching things or listening to things that you really shouldn’t be and don’t want anyone to know?

Have you invited Jesus into your heart only to push His voice down every time He offers a suggestion?

If you had a heart attack today, would you be telling the cardiologist what was the best way for him to perform the surgery so that you could live? Or would you sign the papers, releasing your life into his hands to save your life?
Maybe it’s time to set up a consultation with the Master Cardiologist. Schedule a complete work up. It’s ok if you have questions for Him. He has all the answers.

Learn to yield to Him. If you invited Him into your heart, maybe He can see something that you can’t. Let Him remove what is obstructing the flow.

It might take some effort to get the trash out of the can, but when He is done, you will have something worth guarding. And that is abundant overflow that brings life.

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