Have you been squeezed lately?

The singles at my church have been going through a study on James for the past few weeks that has been very enlightening. Just last night we studied James 3:1-12, which talks about the taming of the tongue. Or perhaps I should say, our inability to tame it. We were reminded of the power of our words, which was no real surprise. But the idea that our words define who we are was a new concept to me.

I've always functioned under the premise that "my actions do not define who I am." Now, for those of you who believe the old saying "do as I say, not as I do" - this is NOT what I'm referring to. I defer back to God's word in Romans 7:15 where Paul says "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Paul is speaking of our battle with the flesh. We desire to do what is right, but we often give in to our fleshly desires and do just the opposite. However, our weak moments do not make us any less of a Christian, nor do they define who we are as a Christian. They simply remind us that we are sinful beings and that we can only overcome the temptations of this world with God's help. Wouldn't this same logic apply to what we say?

Maybe not.

I found the following article at http://www.boundless.org/, a website by Focus on the Family that I love to read. I love the analogy that is given of the sponge and how what comes out of us reflects what is inside of us.

In Luke 6:43-45, Jesus talks about this as roots and fruits:

"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 briers. 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."

In other words, our words (and thoughts and actions) are the evidence of what is stored up in our hearts, the fruit of what is rooted inside of us. The circumstances of our lives simply reveal what's taken root in our hearts. When pressed, we either ooze the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of sin.

Author and biblical counselor Dr. David Powlison uses the sponge analogy to help us understand this passage. If you hold a wet sponge in your hand and squeeze it, water will hit the floor. Most of us would come along and look at the puddle staining the carpet and wonder why someone squeezed the sponge. But Dr. Powlison says this passage in Luke shows us the squeeze only revealed what was already in the sponge. If the sponge were dry, the squeeze would not have elicited any water. The problem wasn't the squeeze; it was the contents of the sponge.

In the same way, when we get squeezed by the circumstances of life (an inevitability), we ooze the overflow of our hearts. We usually don't like what we see, so we blame the squeeze. We blame the circumstances. "I wouldn't have reacted that way if I hadn't been tired." Or, "I only said that because I was hot, thirsty, and uncomfortable." That's our default setting: blame the circumstances.

But Jesus tells us the overflow is what's already in our hearts. Being tired, hot, thirsty, or uncomfortable are only "revealers"; they aren't the reason we react in anger. We're angry because anger has taken root in our hearts.

I know I have been squeezed quite a bit lately and what has come out of me has not been very pleasant. Honestly, I'm feeling a bit like a lemon at the moment. I can only pray that God will restore me to Himself and allow the Holy Spirit to squeeze all of the junk out of my life so that I can absorb His goodness.