More Than Words

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:34-37)

There is this old song that goes, “Words… Don’t come easy to me…” For me, words are not a problem. In fact, I weary some people with my wordiness! Hence, this blog is created, to put my wordiness to good use – both for myself, and for my readers as well. Better to write about things that edify, rather than hedonistic ramblings about things that do not matter.

A person’s words tell a lot about one’s character. Imagine a bottle that is bottled up to its brim. If the contents of the bottle are good, the abundance of the goodness in it will overflow when its cap is opened. If the contents of the bottle are bad, the abundance of its rottenness will spill everywhere when its cap is opened.

The same it is with us. The contents of our heart are shown when we open our mouth. If our heart is filled with goodness, our words will edify the people around us. But if our heart is bad, our speech will betray us by the words that spew out of our mouth.

There is no greater test for the purity of the heart than the test of the tongue. As James aptly puts it, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.” (James 1:26) Any form of godliness a person may have will mean nothing if his tongue is unguarded. Because the tongue will reveal the real contents of a person’s heart, and reduce any façade of religiousness to nothing.

It may not be so bad if a person’s speech merely serves as a revelatory tool of a person’s heart. A revelation of a person’s character may bring shame. If all our speech does is reveal the contents of our heart, it is still not so bad.

But unfortunately, it goes further than that. The bible says that our speech can also cause an active, negative effect. In fact, our words can potentially be detrimental to ourselves! Our words can actually harm us and defile our own being. For “those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man…” (Matthew 15:18-20)

Be very careful then, how we speak. Jesus gives us a solemn warning. He says, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Our words will affect the outcome of our lives. Either they will prove the good condition of our heart, or they will testify against us and set the course of our lives on fire.

Think about this: The intent of our words will be judged, even if they are strung together in a civilized manner. Imagine how much greater will the judgment be, if our words are strung together with vulgarities.