You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. – Matthew 12:34, Amplified Bible (AMP)

Have you ever felt like telling someone off? Maybe you didn’t just feel like it. Maybe you did! Maybe you haven’t told just one person off. Maybe you’ve told several people off. How about gossip? Have you ever spread a nasty rumor about someone? Or, have you ever told the truth about someone, but you’ve done so in a disparaging (degrading) way?

I daresay that we’ve all committed one or more of the above offenses. We may have even felt pretty good about ourselves when we committed them. But on that critical day when we stand before God and give an account for every word we’ve ever said, what will we see when we look into the eyes of the Savior? Will we see approval for our hurtful words? Or, will we see disappointment?

You know the answer, and so do I. When hurtful words flee from our lips, they witness to the wicked hearts from which they flowed. On the day of judgment when we must give an account for our actions, Christ will look with sadness upon those times when our piercing words revealed a human heart of vanity rather than a heavenly heart of mercy. Rightly so, He will chastise us for our selfishness, and rightly so, we will be ashamed for failing to let God’s love for others flow through us.

Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaks. If our words tear people down rather than lift them up, then we don’t have a problem controlling our tongues; we have a problem controlling our hearts. Of course, the only way for our hearts to become more and more merciful is for us to spend more and more time with the God of mercy. If we will do that, then our tongues will take care of themselves.