Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks

Mathew 12:33-37, Jesus speaking:
"A good tree gives good fruit. A bad tree gives bad fruit. A tree is known by its fruit. You family of snakes! How can you say good things when you are sinful? The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man will speak of good things because of the good in him. A bad man will speak bad things because of the sin in him. I say to you, on the day men stand before God, they will have to give an answer for every word they have spoken. For it is by your words that you will not be guilty and it is by your words that you will be guilty."

Wow.

You've heard me say, if you don't have anything good to say about other people, don't say it. That's what my elders taught me. But that verse up there ^ is a strong statement from Jesus! Our speech is just one area out of the whole of our behavior. We will be judged for every word, even the idle ones that we may just toss off in a time of weakness or when joking around with friends. That is a pretty strict judgment.

Jesus speaks here in black-and-white terms. The tree (meaning the person) is either good—producing good fruit—or he is bad and produces bad fruit. Which are we?

Do you think about what really comes out of your mouth? Do you think about the impact, whether good or bad, your words have on not only those around you, but yourself? Do you think about the impact it has on the personal view someone else has of God, whether they know Him or not?

"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

So, what will it be with us? What is the abundance of our heart?

The picture there is that the heart is a kind of vessel--a bowl--and things that are poured into the heart. At a certain point, the vessel will overflow, and an abundance will come out of it. What comes out of our heart--this bowl or vessel--will expose the characteristics of the heart.

And whatever information we inhale, we exhale.

When we pour information into our minds, we process it. For a while, it stays in the bowl, as it were, and becomes mixed with what has been put there before. Our minds work on it for a while, and over time, it begins to gel into certain ideas. Once our minds are full, ideas break out in words, plans, and behaviors. Evil thoughts within, evil speech. Or, we can put it the other way around--Godly, kind, loving, Christ-like thoughts within, Christ-like speech.

What breaks out of our hearts? We have to answer that ourselves. Do we have profane minds that spew out profane speech? Or is it "on [our] tongue is the law of kindness" (Proverbs 31:26) because behind our tongues are pure and kind hearts?

One of the most powerful tool to defeat satan and bring others to a relationship with Christ are our spoken words. For what we believe, we speak. (2Corinthians 4:13)

Yet many times we use our words to hurt, gossip, criticize, lie, curse, or be rude or unkind. Again, maybe it's because these are the things we've been feeding our hearts......what we say reveals what's in our minds, our hearts. But as we inhale scripture, we exhale His words. They are like CPR for the soul, as Beth Moore so eloquently puts it. As christians, we must guard our words like they are gold. For what comes out of our mouths is what lies in our hearts. I often need to be reminded of this, because so many times I fail to see, in my daily life, the things that I say that unintentionally hurt both my witness, and also my witness of Christ.

Psalm 139:4

"Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord."

I don't know about you, but that verse blows my mind.

Our thoughts are just precursors to our speech and action.

So, where do we stand in relation to this line that Jesus Christ our Savior, our God and Judge, has drawn? Are we a good tree or a bad one?

P.S.
We can't solve our 'heart problem' just by cleaning up our speech.
We must allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with new attitudes and motives;
then our speech will be cleansed at its source. ☺