Glorifying God in Our Speech

Matthew 12:34 “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

According to scripture, my mouth is the showcase of what is in my heart. With my mouth I either glorify God or I glorify his enemy Satan.

The Bible is full of references to the mouth, the tongue, and speech. These fall into two types.

First, the devil, the evil one, and his band of followers:

John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Psalm 64:3 Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend their bows to shoot their arrows -- bitter words, ⁴ That they may shoot in secret at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.

I think of the current situation in America, where what the Bible proclaims as evil is being lauded by our president and given honor by proclamation of a special month of “pride”. (Wasn’t pride the original sin?) Attacks upon religious (biblical) free speech are rampant now and will be getting much worse in the future.

God punishes the evil use of the tongue appropriately:

Psalm 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they shall be wounded. ⁸ So He will make them stumble over their own tongue; All who see them shall flee away.

But God rewards the right use of our tongues, and we see the connection between the tongue and the heart:

Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. ²⁴ Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. ²⁵ Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. ²⁶ Make level {26 Or Consider the} paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. ²⁷ Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

We see the heart, the mouth and lips, the eyes, the feet and our overall walk. Our “source code” is the Word of God.

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Lord, I see that my mouth is the test of what my heart contains. I pray that you would continue to cleanse and purify my heart, so that my mouth may bring glory to your name.

In Christ, Amen.