george, my first, was born a few months ago. right now he is in the oral stage…putting almost anything in his mouth! (God help us!)
right now we are trying to keep certain objects away from him, so he doesn’t grab a dirty sock, shoe, or foreign object and shove it in his mouth.
in fact, we try to limit his intake milk and the occasional binky (a.k.a. pacifier).
there’s an old story i heard years ago about how parents are very careful with what types of things go in their child’s mouth – especially their first.
for example, the pacifier falls out of the first kid’s mouth, and the mom picks it up and puts it in a pot of boiling water, sterilizes it, pulls it out with tongs, and waves it around to air-dry it before inserting it into the child’s mouth. the second kid’s pacifier falls out, and she runs it under some cold tap water, dries it off with a dishtowel and gives it back. the third kid drops the pacifier. the mom picks it up, blows on it and sticks it back in the kid’s mouth. not a big deal.
as a general rule, we’re quite careful what we put into something that’s valuable to us.
now consider this: what are we putting in our mind? what are we exposing our thoughts to?
jesus said these words, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes or grapes from briars. Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
jesus points out something so brilliantly simple that many of us miss it! simply, what type of fruit does a fig tree produce? figs! pretty simple, right?
in gist, what’s going on the inside of the tree determines what is produced on the outside.
it would seem that jesus is trying to convey that what is going on the inside of the tree is more important than the outside.
jesus wants one’s life to be transformed on the inside. that one’s life shouldn’t be riddled with resentment, anger, bitterness and so forth.
you see, what thoughts enter the gate of your mind and are readily pervading it, will invariably occupy it; indelibly expressed throughout your life, character and daily living.
let me make an observation about jesus’ words above. jesus is not giving a command; jesus is simply observing how things are! certain fruit comes from certain types of trees. you store up certain types of stuff in your life, it will come out.
so the question for us is, “what types of things are we storing up in our mind?” maybe it’s time to be careful about what we are thinking on and exposing ourselves to.
i don’t know about you, but i don’t like the taste of a dirty sock.
