Watch Your Mouth

Watch Your Mouth

 

Matthew 12:22-25   34You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.   35The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things.    36But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak.   37For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced.

This kind of goes along with the scripture in Proverbs 18:20-21 20A man’s [moral] self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied [whether good or evil].  21Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]. When I’ve read this before I always read it in the context of words bringing death or life to the hearer, but today I looked at it more as life or death to the speaker. Verse 36 of today’s passage says we will have to account for every idle word we speak. Either we will be justified or condemned by the words of our mouth. If we had a true revelation of this would we be speaking the things that are coming out of our mouths? Or would we stop to think if those words were profitable. How many times have I said something only to cover my mouth and think, “I shouldn’t have said that”? Too many to count. If we look at verse 35 it says the good man speaks good thing, and the evil man speaks evil things. Note that it does NOT say the good man speaks evil things sometimes but mostly good, or the evil man speaks good things sometimes but mostly what he says is bad. Just as we are known by our fruit, we are also known by the words we speak. What do your words say about you? Do they say you are good or evil?

In Psalm 39:1-3 David says 1I SAID, I will take heed and guard my ways, that I may sin not with my tongue; I will muzzle my mouth as with a bridle while the wicked are before me.    2I was dumb with silence, I held my peace without profit and had no comfort away from good, while my distress was renewed.   3My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:  He knew all too well how easy it is to make a mistake with the tongue. He says he guarded his ways so that he would not sin with the words he spoke. Even when the wicked were all around him, even when he was in the midst of distress, even when it seemed like there was no comfort for him, he still remained silent. He says while he was thinking , he got an unction on the inside and only then did he open his mouth.  We can follow David’s example and make a conscious decision that our words will only be words of life.