“For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart” (Matthew 12:34-35 NLT).
Jesus responded to the words of the Pharisees who had accused him of healing by the power of Satan, with a parable about a tree and its fruit. He said that just as you can tell a tree by its fruit, you can tell someone’s heart by their words. He described the human heart as the seat of the will, the place that “determines what you say.” And although the Bible teaches that only God can truly see the motives and attitudes of the heart (1 Sam.16:7), Jesus taught that words are like the fruit of heart, revealing something about its nature.
Let us listen to our own words today. What do they reveal about our hearts? Are our words full of thankfulness and praise? Then the fruit of our lips shows the same state of the heart. Are our words full of bitterness and complaint? Then surely it reveals that our hearts are suffering from the same condition.
Let us take a moment to consider our words. And in doing so, let us ask the Lord to help us consider the source of those words, namely, our hearts. Let us pray this psalm of David to the Lord:
PRAYER: Dear Father, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psa. 139:23-24). In Jesus’ name, amen.