What We Feed On Can Inoculate Our Hearts
Late summer brings many woes to the faithful gardener. Months of labor and toil are overshadowed by fast and furious weed crops and once productive plants can die off in a weeks time.
Cucumbers can be highly productive plants whose rapid growth provides a lush vine that becomes the life line to many healthy fruits.
Although cucumbers can bring the gardener much joy in the way of fruit production, there is an illusive enemy that can decimate a vine very quickly, rendering the plant lifeless.
Bacterial wilt, Erwinia tracheiphilia, is a pathogen that is often carried in the mouth of cucumber beetles. When they feed on infected plants. As they continue to feed, they infect other areas of the plant with the bacteria.
The bacteria multiply rapidly, and as a result their presence plugs the vascular tissue of the plant. The cucumber vine begins to wilt and there is nothing that can be done to salvage the infected plant.
The bacterium overwinters in the gut of the cucumber beetle, lying in wait for next seasons crop to perpetuate its life.
Just like the cucumber beetle, what we feed on can corrupt our spirits and leave us unaware of the dangers that are overwintering in our hearts.
Our lives can either be a blessing to others or a curse depending on what comes out of our mouths.
Out of the mouth flows the issues of the heart. If we are feasting on things that are not true and honorable then we are giving our spirits over to become the nursery for destruction to come from the fruit of our lips.
What is on the inside effects what comes out of our mouths and so our speech is a dangerous tool of the enemy if we are consuming things that are not good for our spiritual growth.
Proverbs 4 gives us a Father's wise instruction to be attentive to his teachings but also to;
In this life we are called to be mindful of our heart's response. We must be vigilant to look at what our lives are producing and realize that what comes out of our mouths is a reflection of our hearts.
Have you ever said something and realized that it sounded unkind and you immediately tell the hearer, "I was just teasing"? I would suggest to you, by the word of God, that those things that we "don't mean the way they sound" are indeed a reflection of our true heart that is being exposed.
Our speech can bring life or it can cut down and kill just like the bite of the inoculated cucumber beetle on a vine.
Proverbs 18:21 says;
With our words we can bring death or life. We have a choice. Our choice does not just lie in what we say but in what we feed our spirits with.
If we are partaking in things that are not good then that goes down deep into our hearts and sets up residence, penetrating our thoughts and actions and speech.
As Christians we are called to separate ourselves for His purposes. Our lives are to glorify our Father.
Psalm 19:14
What we meditate on affects our hearts and ultimately directs the course of our lives.
I want my speech to build people up in their faith, to encourage and strengthen others and to provide sustenance to the weary and downtrodden.
Isaiah 50:4
We have an opportunity each day to feed on the word of God and to fill our bellies with the good that He has provided for us, creating a nursery deep within our hearts where life is growing and waiting to come forth out of our mouths to infect the lives around us.
Will we give Him the opportunity today to fill our hearts with the goodness of who He is so that we can be a blessing to those around us?
I want the Word of God, Jesus, to affect my heart and fill it with His goodness so that I can be a wellspring of truth and grace to a lost and dying world. Like the Proverbs 31 women,
Cucumbers can be highly productive plants whose rapid growth provides a lush vine that becomes the life line to many healthy fruits.
Although cucumbers can bring the gardener much joy in the way of fruit production, there is an illusive enemy that can decimate a vine very quickly, rendering the plant lifeless.Bacterial wilt, Erwinia tracheiphilia, is a pathogen that is often carried in the mouth of cucumber beetles. When they feed on infected plants. As they continue to feed, they infect other areas of the plant with the bacteria.
The bacteria multiply rapidly, and as a result their presence plugs the vascular tissue of the plant. The cucumber vine begins to wilt and there is nothing that can be done to salvage the infected plant.
The bacterium overwinters in the gut of the cucumber beetle, lying in wait for next seasons crop to perpetuate its life.
Just like the cucumber beetle, what we feed on can corrupt our spirits and leave us unaware of the dangers that are overwintering in our hearts.
Our lives can either be a blessing to others or a curse depending on what comes out of our mouths.
Out of the mouth flows the issues of the heart. If we are feasting on things that are not true and honorable then we are giving our spirits over to become the nursery for destruction to come from the fruit of our lips.
What is on the inside effects what comes out of our mouths and so our speech is a dangerous tool of the enemy if we are consuming things that are not good for our spiritual growth.
Proverbs 4 gives us a Father's wise instruction to be attentive to his teachings but also to;
Keep your heart with all vigilant,
for from it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
Let your eye look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
In this life we are called to be mindful of our heart's response. We must be vigilant to look at what our lives are producing and realize that what comes out of our mouths is a reflection of our hearts.
Have you ever said something and realized that it sounded unkind and you immediately tell the hearer, "I was just teasing"? I would suggest to you, by the word of God, that those things that we "don't mean the way they sound" are indeed a reflection of our true heart that is being exposed.
Our speech can bring life or it can cut down and kill just like the bite of the inoculated cucumber beetle on a vine.
Proverbs 18:21 says;
Death and life are in the power of the tongue...
With our words we can bring death or life. We have a choice. Our choice does not just lie in what we say but in what we feed our spirits with.
If we are partaking in things that are not good then that goes down deep into our hearts and sets up residence, penetrating our thoughts and actions and speech.
As Christians we are called to separate ourselves for His purposes. Our lives are to glorify our Father.
Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my rock and my redeemer.
What we meditate on affects our hearts and ultimately directs the course of our lives.
I want my speech to build people up in their faith, to encourage and strengthen others and to provide sustenance to the weary and downtrodden.
Isaiah 50:4
The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those what are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
We have an opportunity each day to feed on the word of God and to fill our bellies with the good that He has provided for us, creating a nursery deep within our hearts where life is growing and waiting to come forth out of our mouths to infect the lives around us.
Will we give Him the opportunity today to fill our hearts with the goodness of who He is so that we can be a blessing to those around us?
I want the Word of God, Jesus, to affect my heart and fill it with His goodness so that I can be a wellspring of truth and grace to a lost and dying world. Like the Proverbs 31 women,
I don't want to feed on the bread of idleness,
but I want to watch carefully over the affairs of my own heart
that I might be full of goodness.
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