Abundance of the Heart

courtesy of Pinterest
God has a funny way of teaching things to us sometimes, this time it was a blog post that I read about cheese sandwiches. Recently, I was convicted about my voice. Now am I talking about how my voice sounds? Of course not! But I was convicted about how I use my voice and words, even here on this blog. It's easy to get caught up in the frivolous and the shallow, and forget that our words and our voice are powerful.

I came up with some questions to ask myself about how I use my voice:


I've been "fighting" with my tongue since I was little. I quickly jump to sarcasm and often speak before thinking, with the unintentional result that people get hurt. I also tend to focus on myself and my immediate surroundings in my speech, but I'm not sure if that's a problem with my tongue or my eyes. Luke chapter 6:45, and Matthew 12:34 always convict me of this, and make me wonder - what is the abundance of my heart saying?
"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." -Luke 6:45
"You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." -Matthew 12:34
I'd like to think that it shows me to be a grace-filled, loving, hospitable, giving person; but the truth is that I'm corrupted by sin, and therefore so is my heart and that which flows from it. I need Jesus to be my voice.

The other thing I've noticed, is that we listen more to the voices around us, instead of seeking out the truth with grace and love. And it's amazing how quickly those other voices become our own. We, as daughters of Eve, inherited her heart of doubt. We want to believe what we hear; but we only need to hear and heed one voice, and that is Jesus Christ. His is the voice that speaks love and truth - but it's also quiet, unlike the voices of the world which shout right in our ears, deafening us to the voice we should be listening to.

We need to take the time to be still, so that we can hear the still, quiet voice that whispers into our hearts speaking truth and love with grace. When we do that, we can be refreshed, and then HIS voice eventually becomes ours.
 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" -Psalm 46:10

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