Inside Out – Ben

One of my favorite Disney movies is Inside Out. It creatively explores the emotional minefield of a pre-teen. I especially love how it anthropomorphizes feelings like joy or sorrow.  If you’ve not watched the movie, here’s a great clip that’ll give you pretty good handle on the premise: click here.

Part of why I love Inside Out is that it illustrates how we can often be at the mercy of our emotions. Depending on who’s at the helm—i.e., fear, anger, etc.—we have a tendency to act accordingly. But where Inside Out fails is that, for the Christian, we aren’t supposed to be controlled by our emotions (cf. Prov. 16:32; 25:28). We are supposed to be filled with, and thereby controlled by, the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23). And there is no better way to know how much we are controlled by the Spirit than in listening to what comes out of our mouth. After all, words are the window of the heart.  We need only listen and discover what sort of person is behind the curtain. And, if you’re anything like me, you probably won’t like what you’re hearing. 

So, what are we to do? In Luke 6:43-45, Jesus explains we first have to fix what’s inside before we can fix what’s outside: 

For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit.  For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.  The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Jesus’ point is that as a tree is known by its fruit, so is a person is known by their speech. The condition of our heart determines the content of our vocabulary.  An evil and unregenerate mind produces corrupt and unregenerate ideas which make their way to our tongue and then out into the world.  A good and regenerated mind creates good and regenerated ideas which make their way to our tongue and then out into the world. 

What goes in must come out. So, should you fill your heart with good, you will fill the hearts of others with good.  But should you fill your heart with evil, you will fill the hearts of others with evil.  Fix the heart, and the tongue will be tamed (cf. Ja. 3:1-12).