What Do You Talk About?

Luke 6:45

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Good morning Zebras,

Last night’s Bible study was on Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus’ message to the church at Laodicea. This is the church that is most often compared to the United States, rich and complacent. Is that you?

Today’s z-mail is from February 2009.

Good morning little Zebras,

I want to encourage you that if you are not in a Bible study you might want to prayerfully consider joining one. We are studying 1Samuel on Tuesday nights and it has been one of those studies that has impacted me far more than I ever expected.

As we have studied David and Saul it has become so clear that our heart is so very important to God. I know I have shared this before, but it has been such a freeing revelation to me. I try so hard to be “good” but I never make it and then I feel that I am a disappointment to God. The epiphany that I have had during this study is that God is looking at my heart-do I love Him? That I do!

So here’s my funny story from yesterday.

I went to an in-service at school for the visual and performing arts. It is designed to give us an appreciation of the arts and their importance in the overall education of students. (This is supported by grant money from an arts foundation.) Anyway, at these in-services we have had the opportunity to be “artists” and it has been really fun.

Yesterday’s task was to create a collage representing our hopes and dreams. Well, the only thing that came to mind is that I want to be transformed to the image of Christ and that didn’t seem to translate well to pictures cut out from a magazine and glued onto cardboard.

But I persevered and created something.

After we were done, we had to go around and share what our collages meant. So when it was my turn I said something like, “My hope and dream, almost to the point of obsession, is to be transformed into the image of Christ.” You could have heard a pin drop, but what a moment! It was my own personal coming out party, and so freeing, a confirmation that I do love the Lord because the Bible says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

If you are wondering if your heart is fully committed to the Lord listen to what you talk about and you will hear your heart. If you find that it is not as committed as you would like, pray for that. Those are the prayers that God loves to answer.

Love,
Jill