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About Jesus - Steve Sweetman Words
Jesus said; "For out
of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45 NIV)."
In other words, if you're an avid, heartfelt, fan of football,
you'll talk football. If
you're an avid, heartfelt, fan of the Bible, you'll talk Bible. Your
words mirror what's in your heart. What
consumes your conversation consumes your heart.
As Christians living in the western world, we need to take some
time to think through what Jesus is telling us.
Our western world culture
is heavily influenced by what some call a Post Modern philosophy that
rejects a serious, well thought out, approach to reasoning issues
through to their logical conclusion.
"Just give me a sound bite, and please, don't bother me with
the details," is the Post Modern motto.
Unfortunately, this mentality is robbing us of heartfelt beliefs
and convictions by which we once lived.
It's also devaluating the meaning, and even the spelling, of the
words we speak. Words,
except for those words we pay lawyers to write, are losing their
meaning, significance, and impact. We complain that
politicians have little respect for words when they say one thing and do
another, but the general population differs little from politicians.
It has been said that talk is cheap.
I certainly concur with that.
Talk radio, 24 hour news channels, and social media, overflow
with meaningless words spewed out of Post Modern irrational mouths.
Facebook is a prime example.
Without thinking, people type all sorts of nonsensical words that
breeze through their unfiltered brains.
They support a cause or a movement they no little about by merely
clicking a link. They share
videos, pictures, and maybe a few words, from the comfort and
convenience of their comfy chairs with little to no action to support
what they share. It's one
thing to support a cause with words or by clicking a link in cyber
space. It's quite a
different thing to support a cause with your feet, your hands, and your
bank account. The 1960's pop
group known as Paul Revere and the Raiders were right when they sang,
"There's too much talk and not enough action".
If you take Jesus'
statement seriously, which you should, words are important.
They reveal what's in your heart.
We should know, however, that words don't just appear out of thin
air and parachute their way into your heart.
Words are connected to knowledge that enters your head.
Once in your head, the hope is that this knowledge will somehow
find its way into your heart where it can be transformed into
understanding that forms the foundation for the convictions by which you
live. If the words you speak
proceed from heartfelt understanding, they are meaningful and
productive. Just think about it.
In a time of severe sorrow, would you rather talk with someone
who has a heart of understanding, or, would you rather talk with someone
who tells you not to worry, everything will be okay, and then pats you
on the back as he walks away. Words
that proceed from a heart where knowledge has not been transformed into
heartfelt understanding, although accurate in their content, have little
impact. They demonstrate
that there might well be knowledge in one's head but nothing in one's
heart.
Let me explain it this
way. If you tell me that you
were lucky not to have been hurt in that accident, I'll tell you that as
a Christian you believe luck is an influencing factor in your life.
If you tell me that Jesus prevented you from being hurt in that
accident, I'll tell you that you believe Jesus is the influencing factor
in your life. How you phrase
your words say more about you than what you realize.
If you speak luck, there's something within you that still
believes in luck. You might say, "I'm
going to church." I
might say, as I often do, "You can't go to church because church is
not a place where you can go. You,
along with other believers, constitute church.
There's no inherent logic in believing you can go to a place when
you are that place." You
might respond by saying, as I often hear, "You know what I mean.
I believe church is people. They're
just words. You're being too
technical. Don't take me so
literally." I might
suggest to you, as I have been known to do, "If Jesus was right,
your words tell me what you believe in your heart.
If you say you're going to church, there is something in your
heart that believes church is a place where you go.
The Bible's concept of church, although known in your head, has
not been sufficiently transformed into heartfelt understanding that
changes the way you speak and the way you live."
If we claim to have
heartfelt understanding of Biblical issues our words will prove that to
be true. In part, that's
what Jesus was getting at in Luke 6:45.
I'm convinced that our Post Modern, "just give me the sound
bite mentality," has infiltrated the world of church and
Christians. It has dumbed us
down to a sad state of Biblical illiteracy.
We may have some head knowledge, but that doesn't mean we have
heartfelt understanding that forms the foundation for the convictions by
which we must live. As a
matter of fact, I seldom hear the word "conviction" as
understood in this light as I once did while growing up in the
Evangelical community. "For out of the
overflow of his heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45 NIV)."
Words are important.
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