28/06/07

A Slip of the Lip Sinks a Ship

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken"
Matthew 12:36

"You are what you eat." Right? Wrong! According to Jesus, we are what we say.

As He was teaching the crowds, they brought to Him a demon-possessed man who could neither see nor speak. Jesus healed the man, performing an undeniable miracle, in fulfillment of Scripture (Isaiah 29:18). The Pharisees should have immediately recognized that mercifully God had sent His promised. Instead, they opened their mouths and spoke, saying with derision, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons" (vs. 24).

The Pharisees fully revealed the self-righteous hypocrites that they were. With their careless words they condemned themselves to the point where Jesus warned them, "By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned" (vs. 37).

What we say conveys far more than the message we want to communicate. Our speech reveals the condition of our hearts.

(The authenticity of our faith and the quality of our commitment to Christ can best be measured by our words in our prayer to Him.)

[Reference Scripture]

Matthew 12:33-37
³³"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

Isaiah 29:18
¹⁸ In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)