Out Of The Abundance Of The Heart-Part 1

Over the past week, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me about the importance of the words that come from my mouth. This isn't an altogether new study for me. I've been highlighting verses in the Bible that deal with the mouth, lips, words, and speech for many years. What's different this time around is that the LORD has taken me deeper, beyond speech itself to the motives of the heart that prompt that speech. He's connected some dots, so to speak, in my understanding and opened my eyes to some insights that I hope I never forget. Towards that end, I am trying to bring 3+ pages of notes into some semblance of order here so that I can read this again and be reminded. It's my hope that sharing what I am learning will also be a blessing and an encouragement to you in your own walk of faith.

To lay some foundation here, I am generally an honest and upbeat person. I don't do a lot of grumbling and complaining. I am not a whiner. I try to avoid gossip and being fault-finding. I do not use swear words, not even if I hit my thumb with a hammer. I try to speak words that will build up and encourage, that give glory and honor to God, that express thankfulness and contentment rather than dissatisfaction and discontent. However, I am far from perfect and since I like to talk, "in an abundance of words, transgression is not lacking" (Prov. 10:19), so even I have room for improvement, especially after seeing what the LORD wanted me to see in this study.

I work fulltime in a plastics factory with some great people, but unfortunately they don't have a relationship with the LORD, so the words that come from their mouths are often not edifying or expressing thankfulness to the LORD. I hear a LOT of grumbling and complaining, of fault-finding and of questioning those in management. There has not been an across-the-board pay raise in over 4 years and the semi-annual bonuses became a thing of the past 6 years ago. There have been other cuts in benefits as well, as our company has had to make tough belt-tightening decisions in order to remain profitable in a tough global market. I do understand my co-workers' frustrations, as the cost of living continues to rise while our wages do not, however we have a great deal to be thankful for if we are willing to look for it. The grumbling and complaining don't accomplish anything anyway except to make everyone miserable. This past week I listened to plenty of the "life's NOT fair" complaints again, which helped spur me into this study.

As a child, I know I whined that lament plenty of times: "it's NOT fair!" Why could my younger sister get away with something that I couldn't get away with? Why could my brother go do something that I wasn't allowed to go do? Then when I raised my own six children, I heard those same kinds of laments. And you know what? Sure you do! Life ISN'T fair! That's a life lesson that we're all supposed to learn as children. Yet somehow it seems that there are lots of adults walking around today who never learned that lesson, at least if you listen to the things they are saying, that's the conclusion you can reach. "Why does that person get paid more than I do?" "How come that person can take so much time off work and still have a job here? They can't possibly have that much vacation time coming to them!" "I should get paid more cause I don't have any work restrictions like that person does, so if I can do all the jobs here, I should be worth more." And so on it goes. Whether it's the daily irritations and annoyances that cause impatient, angry, belittling, unedifying words to come from our mouths or the bigger trials and tribulations of life that have us crying out "WHY?" and questioning God's loving goodness & faithfulness, the words that proceed from our mouths are very, very important. I believe those words are an indicator of our true spiritual state, whether we are truly born again or not, whether we truly believe God or not. I also believe that God uses the trials and tribulations of life, both the big and little things, to test us, to prove us, to see whether we truly are the people of faith that we claim to be.

I will be examining the following points:
1) God uses trials and tribulations to "try" or test our hearts.
2) The words we speak are an indicator of what is in our hearts.
3) By our words we will be justified or condemned.

Here are two passages of scripture to ponder as I wrap up the first part of this study:

Matthew 12:33-37 (NKJ) Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Luke 6:43-45 (NKJ) For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, not does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.