Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. ~ Luke 6:45
Here are two stories I read a few months ago that teach the same concept and won't stop haunting me --
- "Our friend Brett used to tell this story about a speaker who asked a man to come up on stage with him, and handed him a cup filled with water. The speaker then shook the man's hands, and water sloshed all over them both and onto the stage. 'Why,' asked the speaker, 'Did water just spill everywhere?' 'Well,' sputtered the man, 'Because YOU shook my hands!' 'No,' said the speaker. 'Water just spilled everywhere because there was water in the cup.' Think and pray with me today about what is in our cups...and what therefore will come out: NOT because life or others shake us up, but because of what was IN our cup, to start with." (taken from The Ayars Affairs)
- Paul David Tripp tells this story from his childhood. He was attending a family gathering, and his uncles began drinking a bit too much and making inappropriate comments about women. His mother quickly gathered him up and left. Once they were in the car, she said, "Nothing comes out of a drunk that wasn't there in the first place."
Let's stop making excuses for our behavior and ask God to "purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn. 1:9)! It is a matter of the heart. We cannot blame other people or circumstances for our reactions or our words; they only bring out what was already there to begin with!
