“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.”  Matthew 12:35

For some of you reading, this title immediately flashed you back to a famous collaboration between David Bowey and Queen, however that’s not what we are talking about today. 

Today we are talking about what happens when you are under pressure. When life squeezes you for all you’re worth, what comes flowing out of you? Think of a plastic water bottle. If you take the cap off and add some pressure, whatever contents is inside the water-bottle is going to come overflowing out. 

I once had a co-worker stop me in the hallway and say, “Do you ever stop smiling or whistling? I always see you so cheerful even when things are tense!” I told him he needed to talk to my Wife and 3 Boys and he would see another side of the story. What that individual didn’t see was when stressful emails would come through changing plans at 9:00PM at night, the string of swear words that would run from my mouth as I pulled out my laptop to make adjustments. He didn’t see the days I came home short-tempted and exhausted from being overworked. He didn’t see that when life put me under pressure, my heart poured out, and my heart at the time was full of anxiousness, stress, and self-reliance. So I poured out a flurry of frustration, anxiety, and defeat when the pressure was put on me. 

As Christians, we are called to produce good fruit (Matthew 7:17-20), But what does that mean? It means in our hearts we should be producing the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Seeing this fruit in our lives is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in us. This fruit should take root in our heart and when we are put under pressure, instead of overflowing with anger, we should overflow with patience & love. Instead of overflowing with confusion or chaos, we should overflow with joy and peace. 

As you head into your day, ask yourself - When you are under pressure, do you overflow with sin or the Spirit? 

Photo Credit: Noppadon Manadee via unsplash.com