“A
good person out of the good treasure of one’s heart brings forth good; and an
evil person out of the evil treasure of one’s heart brings forth evil.
For out of the abundance of the heart one’s mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45
In
biblical language, the heart is said to be the essence of who we truly
are. While we may be able to present a particular facade for public
display (and fool many), we cannot conceal our hearts, our essence (and fool no
one who gets too close). Understand, however, that Jesus is not merely
speaking about being or even getting “saved”. That simple term alone can
often betray us especially in the careless way it is tossed about or even truly
understood. What Jesus is referring to goes beyond redemption. In
verse 44 He speaks of “fruit”; that is, the produce of what is within us.
It is what salvation reaps after the gift of grace has been planted. It
is the acknowledgement of the eternally present reality of the Kingdom of
Heaven.
It
is a given that the entire world was redeemed by Messiah’s sacrifice on the
Cross, but it is not a given that this sacrifice will produce all it was
intended. It is the difference between being a “believer” who will not
deny the power of the Almighty; and being a “disciple” who devotes an entire
life to following Messiah and being willing to learn and grow in grace, love,
and truth. I think we can all agree there are some pretty nasty
“believers” in the world just as I think we can all agree there are fewer
disciples wholly devoted to producing good “fruit” for the Kingdom.
We
must not get caught up in careless and fruitless discussions of who is going to
Heaven and who is going to hell; this is not our call one way or the other, and
it is not exclusively what Jesus is talking about. It is rather about
being all we have been created to be, tapping into the fullness of our essence
to live a life that would bring true honor and glory to our Holy Father, and
living as though Jesus lives next door … because He does!
Blessings,
Michael
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