What Does Your Heart Look Like?

This Sunday I’m going to be preaching on the connection between the heart and the tongue. I don’t want to spoil the whole thing by writing everything out here first, but this issue has really been on my heart for a long time now so I thought I’d jot down some thoughts.

Jesus says in Luke 6:45 that the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart. If the heart is evil, the words will be evil. If the heart is good, the words will be good. You can understand the condition of your heart by examining the words that flow from your mouth. Are you a critical person? It is because of your critical heart. Are you a complaining person? It is because of your complaining heart. You cannot excuse yourself by saying you didn’t mean it or that it really isn’t you speaking. It is! The heart is the problem, so it is the heart that needs to change.

Without Jesus Christ in your life, your heart is incapable of true change. He is the only one who can change a person from the inside out. Our society has learned so well to deal with symptoms that I wonder if it cares about real problems anymore. Doctors will prescribe drugs that will treat symptoms but not cure the problem. Psychologists will give counsel that will treat the symptoms but not cure the problem. This is not how God operates. He is not interested solely in behavioral modification. When it comes to a person’s speech, He knows better than to give a person the right words if the heart is not right. God goes straight to the heart because He knows that’s what needs to change.

Once the Lord changes your heart, your words will follow. They can’t help but change because the heart has changed. What’s great about the change in the words is that it flows from an inner change that is lasting. It is not derived from self discipline. It is not just a matter of will power. Those things might change things temporarily, but the person from whom the bad words flowed is still the same person. God changes the person.

There is so much more to say about this, but I want to save it for Sunday. But if you’re reading this, please take some time to consider your speech. How would you honestly evaluate your speech? Is it critical, judgmental, gossiping, slanderous, complaining, or bitter? What is needed is a heart change and only Christ can provide that.