Matthew 12:33 – “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. 36 And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” (NLT)

In the verses that come before this passage, Jesus has just told us that if we are not actively working with Jesus, then we are actually working against Jesus (verse 30).  How can we know if we are working with Jesus, or not?  We know by the fruit we produce.  Years before the Apostle Paul would write of the fruit of the Spirit, Jesus spoke of the fruit we produce.  Good trees – which represent the people who are working with Jesus – produce good fruit.  In this passage, the fruit of which Jesus spoke were the words that we say.

Jesus said in verse thirty-four: “For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.”  The words that we speak reveal what is truly in our hearts.  If Jesus controls our hearts, our words will reflect Jesus.  We must daily consider our words, and we must do so in every circumstance.  Writing about the words we use, James wrote: “And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!” (James 3:10)

Does this ever describe us?  Do we sing praises to God when we worship with our Church, but later in the week we curse others?  Are there times when the words we use destroy instead of build up?  We must remember that what is in our hearts determines what we say.  Sometimes, we need to do a little work on our hearts!

Verse thirty-seven from today’s passage is powerful: “The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”  James, the brother of Jesus, also wrote: “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?” (James 2:19-20) The words of both Jesus and James tell us that a true relationship with Jesus will change things about us.  Our words will be different.  Our actions will be different. These changes may not radically transform us overnight, but we can measure our walk with the Lord by the changes in our lives.

Today, let us measure our Christian walk.  Let us be mindful of the words we use at all times, and our actions, as well.

Posted by Ramón Torres