Give Me A Printout

W

orking on a computer has taught me a very valuable lesson—make several copies! I usually place a copy on the hard drive of my computer, I place several copies in the cloud, and I produce a hard copy that I keep in a file.  Of all the ways I store information, the hard copy is perhaps to me the most amazing.  The computer stores all of this information in its memory, not in the actual form of words, but in a language it understands.  Whenever I reopen a file, however, I see it in a form recognizable to me.

Most of the files I save are in English but some are in French, especially the notes and tests I use for the classes I teach.  Other files contain information about my finances including my personal budget and my checking and savings accounts.  Whenever I need to produce a hard copy for myself, I simply open the file I need and press the print icon and the computer does the rest.  Whatever is in the computer comes out on paper in exact detail.  In fact, I can only print what is stored in the computer's memory. 

Do you realize that we operate on the same principle as the computer?  Would it surprise you to realize that Jesus spoke of this process almost 2000 years ago?  Without the advent of electronic filing systems, floppy disks, or printers, Jesus described in precise detail the functioning of today's computers.  However, Jesus spoke of this, not in terms of electronics, but in terms of the human heart.

In Matthew 12:34-35, Jesus says, “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."  

The message here is simple and straightforward: what goes in, comes out!  Jesus was addressing his listeners and teaching them that our words and our actions are the indicators of our true selves.  Just as an apple tree produces apples and not peaches, the human heart can only produce what has been planted in it.

Look at the second sentence in this passage from Matthew. The source of our words, our thoughts, our actions, and our motives is the heart.  Jesus says that our words indicate the condition of our hearts.  A direct connection exists between what we say and who we are.  Much like the hard drive on our computers, our hearts store the files of our life.  But the heart can only produce what we put into it!!!  There are no files written in Russian on my computer because I have put none in there.  Likewise, if I haven't placed God's word, God's love, God's mercy, and God himself in my heart, I cannot share him with others nor retrieve anything about him.  There simply is no file inside my heart labeled God!

This is a very sobering thought!!  When I open my mouth and speak, other people know exactly what kind of person I am.  If, as Jesus said, my mouth speaks from the overflow of my heart, then what I say reflects that with which my heart is filled!!  Every time I open my mouth, I am giving someone a printout of the files contained within my heart!  Ouch!!!  That hurts, doesn't it?

Today, let's take an inventory of our heart's hard drive.  What files are stored there?  When someone speaks to us, what kinds of printouts are we giving them?  Do our lives contain enough files about God and His love for us?  Do we have the necessary information to share Jesus with someone today?  Is there enough information buried in our hearts to produce good quality printouts about God and all he has done for us?