Whatever ingredients you put in it, that determines the taste. No matter what you may want to taste or expect to taste, when a glass is put in front of it, what comes out of the pitcher is determined exactly by what you put in it.
That's exactly what happens when you pour something into your heart. That's exactly why it's SO DANGEROUS to listen to your heart!
Jeremiah 17:9 says: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
When you pour hate in your heart, you will pour out hate on others — or even yourself. When you pour anger, resentment, fear, jealousy, pride, or bitterness on your heart, it will leak out somehow. Even if you try hard not to let it.
It makes me think of verses I heard in Sunday school from Genesis 4:6-7: Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
What a scary thought? Sin is crouching at MY door and desires to HAVE me! I MUST master it!!
Whatever is causing you to put negative feelings in your heart, that's not from God. That comes from you, rooted in sin that you are responsible for mastering. Nobody else!
Whether you are dealing with a boyfriend, gossip, bullies, your best friends, your siblings, it's so important that you MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS. Otherwise, they will rule over you. (You can learn more about this in the current issue of Mighty Strong Girls.)
"But it feels right to be angry," you might say. Especially if it's a social injustice you are fired up about. And that's right, it's OK sometimes to be angry.
Before you soak your heart with the emotion, line it up with the one source of TRUTH you have been given from the Lord — His word. It is your guide for all the ingredients God desires for you to pour into your heart, so you can in turn pour it out onto others.
God isn't responsible for our hearts. We are. He offers us truth. We can find it in His word.
