The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Jesus in Luke 6:45

I really misunderstood this verse in my early years of following Jesus. At first glance, it seems pretty straightforward. What we say and what we do is the result of the condition of our heart. And yes, this is exactly what Jesus meant. That’s not the part I misunderstood.

It was the application of the verse where it all fell apart.

Hear me out…

If I say bad things, do bad things (insert your list of favorite sins/bad things here – sex, drugs, rock and roll, gossip, greed, language, etc.), that is an indication that my heart isn’t where it should be. So far, so good.

The remedy of this situation is to be more disciplined in what I say, hear, watch, do, read, etc. So install filters on my devices, get an accountability partner who will ask me if I’m lying to him, listen to only Christian music, and the list of activities could go on and on.

This is exactly the place where I went off the rails with what Jesus was teaching. The solution to bad outflow is not to modify the behaviors but to change the source. Change the heart. Of course, I’m incapable of doing that. It’s not a matter of discipline. It is outside the realm of possibility for me to change my heart.

The Spirit of God is what changes our heart and renews our soul. Connecting with Him, yielding to Him. This is the only path to true heart change. How do I do that? By spending time in the Bible, worship, prayer, and those other things we call spiritual practices/disciplines.

But wait… aren’t I right back where I started? Aren’t I right back trying to be more disciplined in my activities, which really isn’t changing my heart?

Maybe. There’s a subtle but important distinction that we need to make. Allow me to make the point using another relationship example.

There was a young man who was smitten by a beautiful young woman on the college’s volleyball team. How could he get close to this woman? How could pursue her at all?

The team was always in search of students who would call lines and shag volleyballs for the women during warmups. In a stroke of brilliance (or desperation), he volunteered to do both. The only real flaw in his plan was that he knew absolutely nothing about volleyball.

Nada.
Zip.
Zilch.

How in the world did he have a chance with this woman if he knew nothing about the sport that was so dear to her? In the days before Google??

He went to this gigantic building on campus called the library. He interviewed players and coaches. He did the work and research. Then he volunteered to call lines and help out during warm-ups.

Because he loved volleyball? No, that came later. Because he was trying to connect with this girl. He did those things with the intention of getting close to that girl. Turns out, he was really good at calling lines and being an official. But that’s not why he did all those things.

And then she crushed his heart into pieces.

BUT that ended up being the best thing ever, because the next season, Amy joined the team.

What I’m trying to say is this – when we engage in spiritual practices, we must invite the Spirit to that place. We must engage in these practices not for the purpose of changing our behavior but to expose our heart to God. The point of the practices is to get transparent with the Lord, not become more disciplined, more insightful, or more moral.

If the end goal of all your religious activity is to be better at religious activity, then you will one day wake up with a cold, brittle, dry, hardened heart. The point of opening God’s word is to engage with the Spirit. Argue with him. Plead with him. Fight with him. It is to give Him unfettered access to our hearts so He can begin the slow process of transformation inside us.

Yes, I still read my Bible every day. I pray… every day. Some days it is out of sheer discipline and routine. I admit that. It’s a lot like going to the gym every day. Some days it’s just get on the bike and grind out your 30 minutes. I confess that I have those kinds of days.

But I have other days where the Lord ambushes my routine. He invades my routine, and I am overwhelmed in those moments. Sometimes He delivers a swift kick in the rear end. Others, it’s a great big hug and a whisper to my heart to remind me of what He paid to be my Savior.

This is why I keep going to back to the Scriptures and prayer. For those places are where I find connection and transformation. They happen at the craziest of times and locations, but this is the WHY of my activity.

Not to be smarter. Or more moral. Or more intelligent. Or more prepared to teach. Those things are so insignificant and unimportant when compared to the Spirit changing my heart to look more like Jesus.

And that’s what I think Jesus was trying to say.