“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” Matthew 12:34
“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
Matthew 12:35
“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” Matthew 15:18
What do those verses have to do with Orange Juice? Let’s take a step back. If you were to take a whole, unpeeled orange and squeeze it with all your strength, what would the result be? Right… the result would be orange juice; it wouldn’t be tomato juice or apple juice. Because an orange, or any fruit for that matter, can only give up what it contains on the inside.
Oranges make orange juice
And so it is with us mere humans. We do all we can to keep our wrapper (the orange peel) tight around us, unblemished and intact, holding in all that there is, all that we are made of.
Yet, let an unexpected life event come into our lives applying a bit of pressure and it’s highly possible we might glimpse just a small tear in our wrapper. But for the most part, our insides are still intact; we’re still holding strong on the outside.
Apply a bit more pressure and you’ll see more of us spill out, a bit of juice and a tiny bit of pulp. But that stops as soon as the pressure stops and while our wrapper is wounded; it’s just a “flesh wound”.
At some point in every life, trials and troubles show up – it maybe a debilitating health issue, death, divorce, family problems, or the results of our bad decisions. These events close in and squeeze us, and I mean really squeeze us. Add this pressure to our daily lives; and our wrapper gets squeezed tighter than ever and the result… what is in us – what we are filled with is what comes out.
This begs the question… what is in you that is going to come out?
I have witnessed precious dear friends encounter total brokenness and complete helplessness, and all that spills out of them was grace and a gentle word. Yet more often than not, the opposite is seen. How often do we see vile and ugly come tumbling out? How often do we witness the injured lash out verbally and physically at family, friends, and society in general of what has happening in their life?
We’ve all seen it; and we simply explain it away, or justify it, or respond to that behavior with, “I don’t blame them, they didn’t deserve that”, etc. And you’re right, no one deserves bad things to happen to them, things just happen – good and bad things happen to good and bad people.
My point here is this… Just as the orange can only give up what is inside of it when the pressure gets to be too much… so is it with us humans. We can only give up what is inside of us.
For some that’s grace. For other’s it is far from grace… it is anger, bitterness, and rage.
What comes out of them is that downright ugly and vile thing that has been, until now, kept pushed down and locked away under their outward disguise. And now this new and additional external pressure has forced the ugly to the top. It has become like a geyser spewing out in all directions and it is going to hit anyone in proximity. No one is safe from the ugliness.
It’s easy to give forth grace when life is going perfectly. It is something entirely different to give forth grace when harsh realities of life come squeezing in from all sides.
In scripture after scripture, we are taught that what we say with our mouth reveals what is truly in our hearts.
Matthew 12:34-35 “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Proverbs 10:11 “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life and his words of wisdom are a source of blessing, But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence and evil.”
Luke 6:45 “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of”. In that single sentence, Jesus reminds us that what we say reveals what is truly in our heart.
Ask yourself this question, when I am put to the test what sort of words come from my mouth? Those words are a sign of what your heart is really like. You can’t solve your heart problem just by cleaning up your speech.
In Galatians 5:22, we learn about the Fruits of Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These fruits are manifest in the believer through their faith in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of Holy Spirit. These gifts are character traits that are found in the nature of Jesus Christ. When we join our lives to Him, we take on the nature of Christ.
Nine years ago, I had the opportunity to review a book called: “Keep it Shut” by Karen Ehman. This was truly a remarkable and enlightening book.
From my review: “There are dozens and dozens of nuggets of wisdom within the pages of this book. But perhaps my favorite quote from the book is: “Words don’t just tumble out of my mouth randomly or by mistake. They are purposeful and intentional, having originated in my heart. So, if we have a mouth problem, in actuality what we really have is a heart and mind problem.” (page 17)
Consider the condition of your orange. Consider the condition of your fruit. Examine your words and your heart. Are your words filled with love, joy, peace, and goodness or are they filled with hate, anger, rage, envy, bitterness, or arrogance? When life happens, and it will happen, what is coming out of your heart?
Consider well this life – the here and now and into all eternity. Is it time to seek a new way? Is it time to invite peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control into your life? Is it time to stop the madness, stop the stress and striving? Is it time to lay it all down?
Is it time to ask Jesus to come into your life, to cleanse you of all the ugly and wrong and forgive and purify you of all that sin and baggage you hold onto so dearly?
Be filled with forgiveness and love and allow Holy Spirit to fill you with new attitudes and motives, and then your speech will be cleaned at its source… your heart.
Links:
Amazon Link to Karen’s book
My Review of Karen’s book
Saved Because of His Mercy 