What happens when you shake a glass of water? Grab a cup of coffee and let's start your day off on the right foot.
The Power of a Word...
Today’s devotional thought:
Proverbs 12:18, "The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."
During the 2015-2016 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings place kicker Blair Walsh had made an NFL-high 34 field goals. Before the Vikings' playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, he had converted 33 of 34 kicks inside 30 yards in his career. So when the Vikings were down 10-9 with 22 seconds left and Walsh lined up for a 27-yard field goal attempt, it looked the Vikings would win. But Walsh's kick sailed wide and the Vikings season came to a crashing halt.
In the midst of the social media storm directed against Walsh, a group of first graders in Minnesota set out to encourage the broken-hearted kicker. First grader Allie Edwards said, "Blair was really sad, and we wanted to make him feel better." One of her classmates, wrote, "Dear Blair Walsh, I think you shood keep trying. Don't give up! We still love you! Git better by practicing." Tyler Doffin filled a whole page for Walsh: "Dear Blair: I fell bad for you. Don't give up. You're still #1. Practis more so that you can get better at cicing. You're so good at cicing. So don't give up! Keep trying! We still love you."
The kids' act of kindness got his attention. He was so touched to hear from children who didn't know him that he pushed his flight home back a day to visit the classroom. After the visit he said, "It was very touching to me. … A lot of [the cards] were very pretty and creative. … I will cherish them forever." [sources: Susan Elizabeth Littlefield, "First Graders Aim to Cheer Up Vikings Kicker Walsh," CBS Minnesota (1-12-16); Kevin Seifert, "Blair Walsh is human, so let's treat him that way," ESPN (1-11-16)]
The greatest power you posses is in the words you choose. It's with your words you can build up or tear down. With your words you can encourage or destroy. James says that in this way the words you choose can be like a small spark that starts a great fire (James 3:5). On the other hand, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
But what your words are really saying is what kind of person you are. For it is your words, more than anything else, which tells of what is in your heart. As Jesus said, "...What you say flows from what is in your heart." (Luke 6:45). Our words show just what kind of hearts we have. When it comes to your words, choose wisely, encourage, build up.
What will your words say today?
Prayer: Holy Father, we commend to You our words. We ask that You will be Lord of our lives and thus Lord of our words. Fill our hearts with Your love so that these tongues of ours, which praise Your name, may also be instruments to encourage others. In Jesus name, amen.
Shaking a glass of water...
Today's thought:
Psalm 51:10-12, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."
If you know much about the Bible you remember the story of David and Bathsheba. David sees her on a rooftop bathing. Instead of looking away he allows his eyes the feast. In the end the passion of it gets the best of David. He takes Bathsheba and lies with her. She gets pregnant. So David sends Bathsheba's husband to the frontline of battle to be killed so David can have Bathsheba all to himself and cover over his guilt.
When David is confronted he has to face the guilt anyway. What led to his transgression? Was it the intensity of the temptation? Did the naked bathing Bathsheba get him all shook up and David just couldn't help himself?
Suppose I hold a glass of water and I shake it. Water spills out, and you ask me, “Why did water spill out?” The instinctive answer is, “Water came out because you shook it.” But there is another correct answer, which is, “Water came out because water is what was inside the glass. If there hadn't been water in the glass in the first place, no water would have ever come out of the glass.” Sure, it came out because it was shaken, but water came out because water was inside.
So if we asked David, “Why did you do what you did?” He might say, “I did it because I was tempted, because of pressure. I was, as it were, shaken. My equilibrium was disturbed by outside influences, things that happened to me. I was weary. I looked out of the window and saw this beautiful woman, and one thing led to another. I was shaken.” That's what we instinctively say. “I said that because I was stressed.” “I did that because I was tired, or sick.” “My upbringing has conditioned me to react that way.”
But David's answer [see Psalm 51] is, “I committed adultery because there is adultery in my heart”: “I covered up because there is pride in my heart”; “I murdered because love of self and hatred of others is in my heart.” The really shocking thing I have discovered, says David, is that what I did expressed who I am. Evil came out of me because there is evil in me. [Christopher Ash, Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience (P&R Publishing, 2014), page 86.]
"Create in me a clean heart," David says, because what we have is a heart condition. We know, having been taught by Jesus, that we need a new heart, a God changed heart. It is not what goes inside a man's stomach that makes him unclean but what proceeds from his heart. God must change our heart. But even the God sanctified heart will lead to all these things if we do not fill it with the right thing. What is the right thing?
It is love for God. It is not by accident or chance that when Jesus was asked to sum up the law, a law containing over 600 commandments, he chose two laws to do it. Interesting that Jesus did not reduce it to one law. We conclude that the two laws Jesus did choose are so interconnected that they cannot be separated or divided. Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40). Loving God leads to loving others.
When you have a glass full of water and you shake it water comes out. When you have a heart full of love for God and you shake it love for others comes out. It's all about what you fill your heart with. What will you fill your heart with today? Fill it with love for your God.
Prayer: Our Heavenly Father how we love you! We love you because you first loved us. The passions in our hearts show us to be lovers of you. Forgive us when we fill our hearts with the garbage of this world. Create in us a pure heart and renew a right spirit within us. In Jesus name, amen.