March 16 - My Heart in my Mouth

 Read today’s texts first: Deuteronomy 30,31; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1

MAXIMize YOUR DAY 

God’s law should continually flow from our hearts
to our mouths, from the inside out. 

Have you heard the expression, my heart was in my mouth? It simply means I was feeling very emotional or passionate about something or someone. It is the way we are supposed to love and obey God, with all of our heart and soul (30:2,6,10). If the law is applied from the outside in, then it can degenerate into heartless legalism. Can you say “Pharisee”? But it was always God’s intent to write His law in our hearts, even before Jesus made it possible for the Spirit of the Law-giver to live in us. And, according to all our readings today, His law should continually flow from our hearts to our mouths, from the inside out (30:14; Ps. 40:8-10; 1Cor. 1:5).

Jesus explained how we speak out of the overflow of our hearts (Luke 6:45). We can see and hear how true that is in the conversations of the newly-in-love. As the former president of Pacific Life “Bridal” College, I sat through countless pre-marriage sessions with couples who couldn’t stop talking about how much they loved each other. My job was to warn them of the day when that might not be the case, and to teach them how to continually fan the flames of romance.

In our OT reading, God is doing the same thing with His bride. He is essentially saying, you love me now when you need me to get you into the land of promise. However, when you start to prosper, you will forget me, mark My words. You will become enamored with other gods and your conversations will be about them, not Me (29:9-29; 30:15-20; 31:16-18). But He assures them and us, The Word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so you can do it! (30:14).

“Lord, I am loving this time we have every day to let Your Word fill my heart. Hopefully, it will overflow through my mouth (and from my blog) to encourage others!”