I read this illustration from Dr. Dyer, who is a motivational speaker. I don’t know anything about him, but I like the point he makes here:
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“I was preparing to speak at an I Can Do It conference and I decided to bring an orange on stage with me as a prop for my lecture. I opened a conversation with a bright young fellow of about twelve who was sitting in the front row.
‘If I were to squeeze this orange as hard as I could, what would come out?’ I asked him.
He looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, ‘Juice, of course.’
‘Do you think apple juice could come out of it?’ ‘No!’ he laughed.
‘What about grapefruit juice?’ ‘No!’
‘What would come out of it?” “Orange juice, of course.’
‘Why? Why when you squeeze an orange does orange juice come out?’
He may have been getting a little exasperated with me at this point.
‘Well, it’s an orange and that’s what’s inside.’
I nodded. ‘Let’s assume that this orange isn’t an orange, but it’s you. And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don’t like, offends you. And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, fear. Why? The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that’s what’s inside.’
It’s one of the great lessons of life. What comes out when life squeezes you? When someone hurts or offends you? If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it’s because that’s what’s inside. It doesn’t matter who does the squeezing—your mother, your brother, your children, your boss, the government. If someone says something about you that you don’t like, what comes out of you is what’s inside. And what’s inside is up to you, it’s your choice. When someone puts the pressure on you and out of you comes anything other than love, it’s because that’s what you’ve allowed to be inside.”
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I don’t agree with the title of his conference “I Can Do It”. The Bible teaches, I can do NOTHING with God! But like I said, he makes a good point there…Love should come out of us. But, to REALLY get down to the truth as a Christian, the LOVE OF GOD should come out of us. We should be so full of God, His Love, and His Word – that no matter what happens in our lives, people see Jesus in ALL that we do. Our words, our attitude, our actions and reactions. The more we are filled with Him, the more of Him will flow out from our lives.
Jesus said, “…what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart…” (Matthew 15:18). If what mainly is in our hearts is selfishness, evil thoughts and desires, and the thinking of this world – that’s what our life will show. However if ALL that is in our hearts is Jesus Christ and His Word – WHAT A TESTIMONY WE CAN BE!!! It’s all determined by what’s inside, and we control that by what we PUT inside!