“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.”
Luke 6:45 (NIV)

Jesus here likened the heart to a storehouse. The heart is a place where things can actually be stored. Every day we either make worthy or unworthy deposits into the storehouse that is our heart.

If we liken our heart to a financial institution, then we can imagine that it contains different accounts. Every account has a balance from which we can make withdrawals. Some accounts may be solvent while others may be the verge of insolvency. The health of an account is largely up to the depositor.

According to our text, a man can only bring out of his heart what he has put into his heart. A man can draw no more out of an account than what is deposited there. It is not possible to bring out what was never put in.

In light of this, it is imperative that we discipline ourselves to systematically and consistently deposit good things into our hearts. This will insure that we will have a balance from which to draw when called upon to invest in the lives of others. If we have nothing to give, it is only because we failed to make the necessary deposits into the account from which we seek to draw. You cannot fill needs in the lives of others by trying to make withdrawals from an empty heart.

Our hearts can become empty when we spend without saving. Sometimes we are so busy spending and investing in the lives of others that we forget to replenish the accounts in our hearts. If we continue to spend without saving we will soon find ourselves in a bankrupt condition, with an empty heart. In such a state we can either take the time to replenish the supply or to continue on by writing hot checks. The problem with writing hot checks however, is that we are sooner or later caught in a web of debt and deceit that costs us infinitely more than we could have imagined.

Our hearts can be filled when we systematically and consistently make deposits. When we discipline ourselves to store away a little every day, over a period of time we will find that our hearts have an abundance from which we can draw to share with others. This should motivate us to discipline ourselves to daily store away good things in our hearts. Only then will we reach the point where we can share out of our overflow or abundance.