It Comes From The Heart…

“…if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.”  Proverbs 30:32

Reading the above verse this morning brought to my mind a recent picture I had taken of Clint. I’m not sure what tickled his funny bone as we sat waiting for our car to be fixed, but I managed to capture his first reaction…

The above verse is a good reminder of the importance of guarding our hearts against wrong thoughts. We’ve all had times where we have failed to think before speaking and, in our haste, have blurted out words we have immediately regretted. Then, as if to make things better, we immediately say something like, “I’m sorry…I don’t know where that came from…”  That sort of apology may make US feel better, but the truth is we have actually revealed what was deep down in our hearts. Evil speaking is a product of evil thinking. If we were truthful, we would have to say, “I’m sorry…that came from my heart…”

Matthew 15:18 says it like this, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.” 

So, what is the preventive maintenance for blurting out words we later regret? Duct tape??  Possibly…after all, it does come in just about any color these days. 😉  In all seriousness, Proverbs 6:23 gives us the remedy – “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” The root problem of ungodly speech is not the mouth but the heart. A heart that is not being guarded is like a volcano that could erupt at any moment – spewing forth hurtful words that cannot be taken back.

This is an area in which each of us will battle but by God’s grace, let’s strive to tame the tongue by guarding the heart.

“O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” Matthew 12:34,35