The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45
And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15
Have you ever woke up and had a ‘word’ stuck in your head? This pre-dawn morning I woke up several times with the word ‘abundance’, along with the phrase “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. Obviously I got the ‘sense’ that there was a ‘message’ there for me. So I began asking the Holy Spirit questions.
What is the ‘abundance’ in my heart?
What is the ‘abundance’ am I pursuing? What are the dangers in acquiring such an ‘abundance’? What ‘abundance’ am I relying on more than Him? How do I receive an ‘abundance’ of His character within me? Is my perspective of my own earthly abundance skewed somehow?
The idea of the pursuit of abundance kept coming back to me. It’s like almost a ‘drive’ to have ‘more’ rather than a ‘contentment’ and a trust in the Lord being my ‘Source’. Where is that ‘line’ when we cross over into the unhealthy area of covetousness? That line can change throughout your life. I thought of the whole area of proper stewardship of the Lord’s property rather than the idea of ‘my’ ownership. Money and abundance can invade one’s heart like the long tentacles of the octopus that wraps around the very core of our inner self. And that ‘love’ for that abundance sneaks into our words coming our of our mouths. Do we often speak of our “need” of things, money, or security rather than our relationship and love of Jesus? What comes our of our mouths more?
What is it that we produce the most of? We actually produce a lot everyday! But I think the words out of our mouths is most likely in the top three things we produce everyday for most individuals. We speak thousands of words a day. How many of those words is the Lord pleased with? Have you ever tried to ‘fast’ words and talking? Sometimes I think it’s more difficult than fasting food. Sometimes we need to reduce our current ‘abundance’ so that the Lord can fill us up with what He wants in our lives. Do you trust Him enough to do that? How attached are you to your current abundance?
I understand the drive of responsibility to ‘take care of your family’ which is right and noble. But again… am I aware of the ‘line’ of what is enough? And again… the whole issue of Who am I relying on… is at the forefront of my mind. Do I have the patience to ‘wait on the Lord’? Do I trust His timing?
The older I get the more I can see how very little I actually ‘know’.
Come Lord Jesus!