I was in my kitchen busy chopping onions for my favorite salmon dish the other day as I listened to a photographer being interviewed on the radio.
He had gone into an odd adventure. After asking permission of dozens of folks, he took photographs of the inside of their refrigerators.
Kind of weird? Just a tad. But I changed my mind when he related his findings. The contents of each refrigerator revealed insights about the person’s eating habits, their work, their schedule, routine, health and even emotional state.
“One fridge was jammed with Styrofoam containers,” he said on the interview. “The smell was so bad, we had to keep closing it before we finished shooting pictures.”
Yuck! Would God find the same in the refrigerator of our heart? You know, stuff that had been there for years, moldy insecurities. Or pieces of rotten self-talk. Maybe containers of unfounded fear that have been there forever and now give off a bad smell?
That was my heart decades ago, and had God taken a snapshot, the image would have not been pretty. How about you, has anyone peeked in the storage of your heart lately?
What great news it is to know that a deep cleaning with the brush of God’s love can make us new. The heart now can store fresh gratitude, healthy trust, and shelves jammed with wisdom–The wisdom to know that a cleansed heart must store good things, good thoughts and carefully chosen words–positive talk, edifying comments, words that honor the King, that encourage others and words that change gloom to gladness.
David allowed God to snap photos of his heart, too. Humbled by the outcome, and cleansed by God’s grace, David repented and declared: “My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.” (Psalm 71:8, 15-16).
Father, make me more conscious of what I store in my heart so it might reflect in the words that I speak. The comments I make to others, the words I write and the encouragement that my words carry. In Jesus’ name, amen.
• If God peeked in your heart what would He find stored there?
• What attitude do your words convey?
• What destructive self-talk needs to be silenced?
Janet Eckles
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