THINK TOGETHER.
What happens when you turn on a lamp in a dark room?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 20:27. The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.
In the Bible sometimes it will talk about us having three parts: our body, our soul, and our spirit. Here in Proverbs 20:27, Solomon is talking about our spirit. This word spirit is a bit complicated. It can also mean breath, or words. The idea is that what is inside of us (our innermost parts) comes out of is in our breath, or in our words, or in what we do. And when it does, it is the lamp of the Lord. Like turning on a lamp in a dark room, God uses what we do and say to shine a flashlight on what is inside of our hearts.
One thousand years after Solomon, Jesus will say the same thing.
Luke 6:35. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Do you think that this is still true? Does what you say reveal who you are inside?
Of course we can trick people by saying things that we don’t really think or believe. We can say things to a person that sound nice even though we really dislike the person. Or we can say things that are flattering but untrue in order to get others to like us. Even then the wisdom holds true – we are saying something that reveals what we are really like, even when we lie.
No one will ever say things that are always true, or always right, or always kind. But when we have Jesus living in our hearts at least we have a god treasure in our hearts – his love for us. The more we know we are loved by Jesus, the less we have to say unkind, flattering, or tricky things. Instead we can say loving things, because the love of God is really and truly in our hearts.
Because of Jesus we have a new treasure in our hearts – his love.
With Jesus we can say out loud what is in our hearts – his love.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Say the same sentence using different emotions (anger, sadness, happiness). Ask: How might these words reveal what is in a person’s heart?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, let my words reveal what is in my heart, and let my heart full of your love become loving words. Amen.
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