Words From the Heart

I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress (Psalm 17:3)

I need to make this statement my own. How many times have I transgressed the Law of God with my words? Too many to count. This is an epidemic in our society. We too easily transgress the Law with our wicked discussions, our biting words, or our lack of speaking up when it is needed.

James talks about the tongue being a great fire starter. It causes so many problems. From things that may have been misunderstood, to things said that were meant to harm. James says that no one can tame the tongue but that if any one does not offend in word he is a perfect: unfortunately we have no one like that. With the same tongue we bless God and curse our neighbor whom God has commanded us to love! My friends this should not be! Where does the unruliness come from? Why can no one tame this tiny member of the body?

Jesus gives us the answer in Matthew 12:34, "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." The problem is not the tongue, but that from which it pulls its resources of topics: the heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says that we all suffer from a heart disease: "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" Another translation calls it wicked instead of sick. Here is the way I see this verse. Our heart deceives us into thinking that our way is right. Proverbs 14:2 says, "There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.." Our way only seems right and only to us at times. We deceive ourselves many times to get what we want. How wicked and rebellious must our heart be to deceive even its owners? From this deceitful heart, the tongue has a cesspool of topics to choose from. Even when we try and tame the tongue, often it leads us into those topics which we should not broach. We fall far too easily to the sway of our sinful heart. How can escape even the tiniest bit from this wickedness which lies at the core of our being?

Romans 10:9-10 says, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." God's wonderful gift of salvation starts our heart on the path to righteous living. He cleans out the heart and takes that dead heart f stone out and gives to us a heart that is alive! Our next struggle lies in getting the contents of that new heart to our head!

Romans 12:1-2 says, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." By submitting to the authority of God in our lives, the new heart He gives us finally starts to overtake all those old sinful habits our mind has latched on to and does not wish to let go.






Let us purpose today to not offend with our words and do so by submitting our life to Christ today, this second, the next moment, and the rest of the day.