“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
What does lie within us? Jesus told us that, “From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication’s, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
This list might not have been what Emerson had in mind but this is the divine estimation of “what lies within us.”
Jesus has given us a test to determine just what is inside. He says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” What comes out of our mouth determines what is inside. Again our Lord tells us, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man”
So let’s apply the test: What do we enjoy talking about? Scandals, sports, and material goods are what interest many people. Would someone listening to our conversations at work or home realize that we are godly-minded Bible students? What words do we use when we are angry?
The computer slogan of “garbage in, garbage out” applies to much more than just software. It applies to us. The reason that “from within, out of the heart of men” proceed such awful things is because that is the stuff that mankind tends to put inside.
Paul exhorted the Romans not to “let the world around us squeeze us down into its mold.” Thanks to the radio, TV, newspapers and magazines, the world is constantly bombarding our minds with its filth and if we are not careful we will suddenly find our insides full of the wrong kinds of things: garbage.
We can change what is inside us but it can only be done with great effort. Our Lord said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”
The big question we each need to ask ourselves is this: What are we putting in? Rethinking Emerson’s quote, what lies before us will be determined by what lies within us.
If we have filled our minds with the things of God, then Emerson’s statement is wrong because that which lies before us will not be a tiny matter at all. Our future reward will be to live and reign on the earth as immortals with the Lord Jesus Christ forever. The things that lie behind are not “worthy to be compared with the glory” which is before us. John says, “When he (Christ) shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” He will “wipe away tears from off all faces” and “we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Let us then be very careful of that which we allow and turn off the world’s noises and distractions. Let us follow Paul’s advice to “Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine…to meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One