“A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
I was thinking about how Jesus said that you will know false prophets (who come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves) by their fruits. If you read on, later in Matthew Jesus responds to the accusation the Pharisees make that He was casting out demons by Beelzebub. He discusses a house divided, and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and then He goes on to talk about good trees bearing good fruit and bad trees bearing bad fruit. The context here is regarding speech. Make the tree good, He says, and it will produce good fruit, and the other way around likewise. He says that a good heart stores up good that will come out in the words, and an evil heart stores up evil, and that is what will come out in the words from that heart as well.
I was immediately convicted of my sin; I recognized the evil that had come out of my words recently in heated moments with my precious children, which led to a realization that it most certainly came from evil that had been stored up in my heart. I begged God to give me a new heart and a steadfast spirit that I might bear good fruit. Let us consider the following passages from Matthew and Proverbs, and may we remember to use our mouths for that which is edifying, that it might minister grace unto the hearers.
“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
“Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
“There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.”
“A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”