Pathways Press.com

Written by Chris Eggemeyer of the Village Church

I have found the last few years challenging. Our world feels darker, not just in the proliferation of war, hunger, and disease, but in more intimate, common ways. It feels as though hatred, anger, fear, and aggression run amok in our daily lives. I find my own life offering a great many small temptations to give into these feelings, some as simple as speaking ill of someone, or muttering angrily at a passing driver who fails to dim their brights at night. I increasingly find God’s comfort and direction in Luke Chapter 6.  It is a beautiful summary of our calling as believers. Jesus tells us that faith must extend beyond ourselves, reminding us that even those who do not believe can do good to those who do good to them. We, however, are called to love our enemies and do good to them without expecting anything back. To do this we must change from the inside. Jesus tells us that ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of’, and so I find God calling me, challenging me, to fill my heart with his goodness, his mercy, his charity, and his compassion.

People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the goods stored up in his heart, and an evil man bring evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. [Luke 6:44-46]