Readings: Luke 6:43-45
"The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of
evil treasure produces evil." Luke 6:45
Our behaviors grow out of our attitudes. That's our contemporary way of saying what Jesus says
here in Luke. So to change behaviors, we say, change your attitudes, the stuff on the "inside,"
what the Bible calls "the heart." True enough, but just saying it doesn't make it so.
When Luther explains the first commandment in his Small Catechism, he uses verbs of the heart:
"fear, love, and trust in God above all things." What we fear, love and trust defines who we
think (fear, love,and trust) we are. And from the treasure of this heart we live out our roles in
daily life.
Over and over again in his earthly ministry Jesus speaks to that agenda. "Do not let your hearts
be troubled," he says (John 14:1). Does his saying it make it so? Jesus addresses these words to
his anxious disciples. We too are not trouble-free in the heart. From our troubled hearts come
our troubled behaviors. Like all troublesome people we need new hearts -- healed hearts,
untroubled ones.
Jesus follows up his word about heart-trouble with three little words: "Believe in me." You can
indeed trust someone who'll go to the cross for you. Such trust does indeed produce a good heart
on the inside with its "good treasure" for producing good in our relations on the outside.
Prayer: (from Psalm 51) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit
within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take away your holy spirit from
me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Amen.
"The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of
evil treasure produces evil." Luke 6:45
Our behaviors grow out of our attitudes. That's our contemporary way of saying what Jesus says
here in Luke. So to change behaviors, we say, change your attitudes, the stuff on the "inside,"
what the Bible calls "the heart." True enough, but just saying it doesn't make it so.
When Luther explains the first commandment in his Small Catechism, he uses verbs of the heart:
"fear, love, and trust in God above all things." What we fear, love and trust defines who we
think (fear, love,and trust) we are. And from the treasure of this heart we live out our roles in
daily life.
Over and over again in his earthly ministry Jesus speaks to that agenda. "Do not let your hearts
be troubled," he says (John 14:1). Does his saying it make it so? Jesus addresses these words to
his anxious disciples. We too are not trouble-free in the heart. From our troubled hearts come
our troubled behaviors. Like all troublesome people we need new hearts -- healed hearts,
untroubled ones.
Jesus follows up his word about heart-trouble with three little words: "Believe in me." You can
indeed trust someone who'll go to the cross for you. Such trust does indeed produce a good heart
on the inside with its "good treasure" for producing good in our relations on the outside.
Prayer: (from Psalm 51) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit
within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take away your holy spirit from
me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Amen.
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