Inside the Heart

What's inside the heart will always come out. I just finished reading "Enemies of the Heart" by Andy Stanley. It was a good book. It talked about the four enemies of the heart as he described: greed, anger, guilt and jealousy.

One of the things that struck me as I was reading the book was this: what's in the heart will always come out. It's not really what we say to people that defines who we really are, but sometimes it's what we don't say, and that will eventually come out.

Basically, we tend to put on a facade for other people. If our co-workers expect us to act a certain way, then we do. If people at church expect to act a certain way, then we do. Etc. etc. etc. I don't know that we are all who we really are except when we're at home, around our closest family...and really probably just your spouse. If you've never been married, then I'd say there's only one or two people that have ever really known just who you really are, and maybe none.

If someone drops something on their foot, and they say "s*** that hurt!"...and then they say, "I'm so sorry for using that language"; well, then they probably use that language, even if it's not in front of others - they still probably do in their head. Because what's in the heart will come out.

If someone you know is always nice to this one particular person, but then they go on a furious rage against them - whether it be in front of them or behind their back - they have probably been harboring ill feelings towards them for a while. What's in the heart just came out.

The point is: you can combat these feelings. There is always a reason for having something bad in your heart. The key is to get it out. Do I want what someone else has? Do I not feel like I am getting my way? Am I not giving it away because I don't want them to have it? Whatever it could be, the bad things need to go. It's a daily struggle trying to be the person who we ought to be striving to be: more like Jesus. Just have to ask God every day for the wisdom and patience, for the understanding to make ourselves better...and to get rid of the enemies of the heart, because they will come out.