Verse: Luke 6:45
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Devotion
I have two gas cans in my shed. One with just gas (for the mower), and one with a gas/oil mixture (for the weed wacker). One time I accidentally grabbed the gas/oil mixture and put it into my push mower. It did not end well. Turns out it really matters what you put in into that machine. If you put the wrong stuff in, you get a bad outcome!

Do you think the same is true about us? Is this what Jesus means in this verse?

What do you think it means to have good stored up in our hearts? I think it would be worth while to figure it out. I know that I aspire (as I’m sure you do) to be someone who produces good things in my life. I want good “to come out of me.” I want to be a person of love and peace and joy. I want to have wisdom and insight to help others. I want to be kind even when I’m in a bad mood. All of that really matters to me. But what this verse says is that won’t be possible unless I amĀ storing up good in my heart. If there’s nothing good in there to draw from, then where will all the good come from?

So the big question really is, how do I store up good in my heart? For me the first few answers are obvious: reading, studying, and meditating on God’s Word; praying and spending time with God; worshiping on my own and with others. These are pretty big ones. If I’m not doing these, am I actually storing up good in my heart? I also think spending time with believers, sharing my life with them, being honest and vulnerable about my struggles, getting prayer, serving others, and being humble and teachable are all ways I can store up good in me. And the idea of “storing up” makes me think it is ongoing. This isn’t once in a while. It is about practices that I do regularly that result in a storage of good not just a little bit here and there.

What do you think? What would help you to store up good in your heart? Are you doing it regularly?

Author: Christian Dunn