Why it matters what we spend time on (and Bible verse lock screen)
The other day, we chatted about the below verse on our Bible Nerd Facebook Page:
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matthew 12:15b
I love how this passage reads in The Message:
Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.
Wow. Makes me think twice about what comes out of my mouth. You too?
A few days later, I was reorganizing the bookshelf in my office and began leafing through Jen Hatmaker's book, For the Love.
Noticing I marked the whole book up like a madwoman when I read it a year or two ago, I noticed a common thread: freedom.
Freedom to say no
freedom to set boundaries
freedom to be me...in the best sense of the word.
Freedom to have pink hair... freedom to juggle work and kids... freedom to know what works for me and my family... freedom in the abundant love of Christ.
"God measures our entire existence by only two things: how we love Him and how we love people. If you get this right, you can get a million other things wrong." (p71)
What does this have to do with Matthew 12:15?
Let me tell you:
input and output.
Back in the 80's, I was a painfully shy, sweet(ish) Sunday School girl who spent most of class fixing my ever sagging tights where the crotch somehow always ended up mid-knee, the thin nylon sagging around my ankles, (I know I'm rambling, but please tell me I wasn't alone in this).
But when I wasn't wriggling around trying to get my undergarments just-so, I remember singing my little heart out. And I recall singing particularly loud to a song named "Input, Output".
Do you remember it?
Warning: it's sung in a computer voice.
Mhm. Yep. I never claimed to be cool.
Anyway, it goes:
"Input, output, what goes in must come out.
Input, output, that is what it's all about.
Input, output, your mind is a computer whose.
Input, Output, daily you must choose."
And as cheesy and lame as the song is, complete with computer voice and motions, it's stuck with me.
Why?
Because it reminds me that I need to be careful what I spend time on and in.
If I pray and work hard on kindness and patience, I'll speak in a way that will make our children feel my love for them as they grow. They will see freedom in Christ through my words and actions.
But this not only means feeding our hearts with meat from The Word. It also means we need to be careful what we spend our time watching or listening to. What conversations we're having with others.
It also means if we're angry or dissatisfied, we need to have an outlet for it...before it comes out in an unhealthy way.
I'm a (recovering) Stuffer. I hate confrontation and will just press anything unpleasant down further and further, hoping it'll just go away and I'll get over it.
UGH...so unhealthy!
It wasn't until being married that I realized that's NOT ok! You cannot act in this way when you're on a team with someone for life. Your spouse will think everything is peaches and cream and then WHAM! A typhoon hits and takes everything out in its wake. It ALL pours out.
The little issue from that day and everything all the way two years ago back. And his head will be spinning with confusion.
Talk about things AND pray about them.
Find a friend, your husband, or a counselor to just be crazy open and honest with.
And wouldn't we rather overflow with love, kindness, goodness, generosity, and encouragement for others?
Enjoy this lock screen + printable!
I challenge you to forward this post or the image itself on to a few friends who you cherish and think may love it, too! xo
Printable + Lock Screen can both be found in The Library.
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