Out of the Overflow of the Heart
I don't know if you heard, but there was a big football game played this past week. No need to rehash how it turned out, since I'm sure you've heard the news, along with all the expert analysis and opinions from your friends on social media.
No doubt about it, whether it's pre-season, regular season, bowl season, recruiting season, or spring training, we do like to talk about college football in these parts. For better or for worse, people in this state are consumed with the game, 365 days a year.
Which reminds me of a quote I read once from Connie Mack: "No matter what I talk about, I always get back to baseball."
You may have heard of Mack, whose given name was Cornelius McGillicuddy. Born during the Civil War, the Hall of Fame legend managed major league baseball teams for an astounding 56 years, from 1894 to 1950. (You may have also heard of his great grandson, Connie Mack IV, who served several terms as a Congressmen from Florida.)
Anyway, the elder Mack's life was obviously consumed by the game he loved. Hence, the quote above, given in an interview with
Sporting News magazine in 1951, when he was 88 years old and retired from the game. He still couldn't stop talking about baseball.
We've all known people like that, whose lives have a singular focus, whose conversations always seem to end up in the same place. It may be their work, their family, their frustrations with the president (or president-elect), or Alabama football, but you come to expect that somehow, some time, the conversation will turn to what is most important to them.
It's really quite simple. It has everything to do with what's on our mind and what's in our heart, all the time. Jesus said it this way: "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45) In other words, what you say flows from what is in your heart.
What does your conversation always get back to? Where does your mind naturally "settle" when the dust of life clears? Where is the "due north" your compass needle points to after you shake it up a bit? Or, to sum it all up, what is the central focus of your heart and mind?
My prayer is that no matter what you talk about, you'll always get back to Jesus, and the difference He makes in your life. Not a pious and phony religiosity--no one wants to hear that--but a genuine heart for Christ that oozes out of everything you do and say.
May He be honored in your conversation today. I'm praying for you, as I hope you are for me, and I look forward to seeing you again this Sunday.