“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.“

I want to be someone who brings good things up.  But I find myself bringing up the opposite.  It seems like a lot of bad things surface quite easily.   It’s not the way I want to live.  But am I not a Christian?  Does He himself not make me good?

Yes.  He does.

But  I read a word and it makes me pause–“stored up.”  Ok.  Two words.   I am reminded with these words that no one stores up anything on accident or even in small measure.  When I go to store up something, it’s a lot of work.

• When we store jars of food it means gathering the food, preparing it and canning it (no small process).
  .
  
• When we store up money in a savings account.  It is the bi-monthly discipline of setting funds aside.  That’s not an easy process on a not-so-lavish income.
  .
  
• When we store up goods for an emergency or inclement weather approaching, it means going to the store, buying goods, making sure we have candles and more.

Storing up is not even close to a passive process.  It doesn’t just “happen.”  And it just isn’t an occurrence that is accomplished in one or two attempts of effort.  It is a repeated process of gathering, assembling and putting away.

The same is true for this verse.  

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him.”

To bring forth goodness I must be intentional about the storing up of that which is good.  It means storing up acts of forgiveness instead of acts of offense, storing up thoughts of hope instead of thoughts of despair, it means storing up His Word more than the words of Facebook or the latest news.   In essence it is the storing up of hope, faith and love.  

Only when I “store” these things in my mind, heart and life can I take from those stores in an hour of need.  It doesn’t happen quickly.  It doesn’t happen occasionally.  But storing up does happen when we take action.  Intentionally.