The Warehouse

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. – Matthew 12:35

Jesus is on an extended time of teaching where he is laying out one truth after another. I can see the people listening intently, trying to capture everything he was saying. It must have been like trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant. In the middle of the teaching, Jesus throws in the the above statement. Had I been listening, I may have had to hang on this and forget everything else he was saying.

Good is not manufactured on the spot. In the middle of a situation, I can’t just say to myself “Do something good here. Make something up.” Good flows from storage. My life has to have good things stored up. Otherwise I am drawing from an empty warehouse.

I imagine my life is a warehouse full of stuff. Some good, some bad. The way I live life causes me to stock good or evil in the warehouse. The things I read, they way I think, my prayers, the situations I allow myself to be influenced by, they all play in to stocking the warehouse. When situations come, my natural reaction will be to draw from the shelves of the warehouse. What I have stocked there will come flying off the shelves and become reality. I may fool people for a bit, but the quality of my product will soon be found out.

God, allow me to store good. Allow me the courage to turn from things which store evil in me. As it comes out, may it be good. May it be so good that your name is made famous. May the good stored up in me benefit you.

[tags]devotions, good, evil, behavior, Jesus, kingdom[/tags]