“Whoa! Did I just say that?” Have you ever been aghast by something that has come out of your very own mouth . . . even just seconds after saying it? “Where did that come from?” you think.
Perhaps in frustration over a believer’s repeated failures you have cut them “down to size” in a counseling session. Or maybe you have spoken sharply to an unbelieving neighbor the morning after an all-night, raucous party next door. Perhaps you have been inwardly resenting the hard things that God has allowed in your life and in turn have lashed out at someone else.
Our words reveal what is within.
Christ says that these words come from the stock we have stored up in the storeroom of our hearts. In Luke 6:45 He says,
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.1
James reminds us in his letter,
Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.2
The battleground is the heart.
When our speech and reactions surprise us, they are telling us much more about our own hearts and minds than the person or situation that provoked them. These kinds of words come from our mouths because they have been treasured in our hearts.
We cannot speak or react graciously if our hearts and minds have become a stew of indignation, frustration, and anger regarding another individual or even God. Oh yes, perhaps we will be able to bluff along politely and squelch the sharp words for a time, but eventually, in a less-guarded moment or instance of provocation, the thoughts that have been festering and continuously mulled over will come out.
Perhaps our ministry situation, or health, or life circumstances are particularly exhausting or discouraging, and in turn we blame them for our cutting words. It is true that life in a broken world can be provoking, but it cannot provoke things that do not exist in the storeroom of our hearts and minds to come to the surface. We say the words we say and react the way we do because we have been thinking certain thoughts. Christ says that these are the overflow from our hearts.
Clean out and restock the storeroom.
The battle of the tongue needs to be fought before the lips! We need to attend to our storeroom and put it in order first so that it is full of gracious, true, God-inspired thoughts about people and life. Only then will our speech be true, gracious, and edifying rather than false, cutting and degrading.
In Philippians 4:4-8, Paul offers several steps to clean out and restock the storeroom. All of these are active mental and spiritual exercises, requiring us to resist the natural inclinations of our fallen hearts that rise up and rule when we are mentally and spiritually passive.
Rejoice.
First, in verse 4, the Apostle exhorts us to rejoice, with the object of that rejoicing being the Lord. The fallen world and our broken selves will offer plenty of opportunity for stocking up on fear, discouragement, anger, and bitterness, but in the face of that, he encourages us to garner thoughts that delight in the Lord. His character and disposition toward us are inexhaustible wells of truth, light, and encouragement.
Pray.
In verse 6, Paul encourages us to bring our anxieties and turbulent feelings to the Lord in prayer. Rather than perpetually and anxiously rehearsing irritations, provocations, and fears internally (stocking them in the storeroom for later use), we should be taking them before the Lord in prayer. Perhaps this will take the form of confessing frustration and anger with an individual and asking for the Lord to work in our own hearts to love them. It will mean praying for the Lord’s best for that person, NOT their destruction or comeuppance.
Receive peace.
Verse 7 states that bringing our anxieties to the Lord will allow His peace to guard our hearts and minds. Submitting our thoughts and feelings through prayer to the Lord adds peace to the storeroom. The peace that we have with God through Christ should put all other people and circumstances in their proper perspective and guard from faulty stock being allowed entrance into the storeroom of our hearts!
Restock.
Then in verse 8, Paul gives us a list of essentials that we should be stocking in our storeroom. He encourages us to gather in thoughts that are focused on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, along with things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Think accurately about the situation or person; put away the indignant thoughts that have been skewed by irritation and bitterness. In truth, those “irritating” persons are created in God’s image and are so precious to Him that He died to purchase their redemption. (And I am no better; it took His death to purchase mine too!) Shouldn’t that affect how I react to anyone in my speech and action? Even if there is little that is worthy of praise in the hardness of the moment or relationship, let your heart be captivated by the One Being who completely fulfills these requirements—God. A heart that is actively dwelling on truths about God in scripture reading, meditation, and memorization will have less room for the poorer stocks of bitterness, resentment, and anger.
The overflow of grace
If you have struggled to maintain gracious, edifying speech and reactions in the challenging situation or relationship that the Lord has appointed for you, consider first the condition of the storeroom of your heart. Throw out what is spoiled and rotten, and replace it with God-centered, true thoughts. The overflow from that well-ordered storeroom will be a cool, refreshing spring of edification and grace from which others may partake and profit.3
1 All scripture quotations are taken from NASB: 1995 update.
2James 3:11-12.
3Ephesians 4:29