One of the lessons that my parents taught me was not to talk with my mouth full. When eating, I should swallow my food before beginning to speak as no one wants to see food chewed while the person is talking. Talking while eating can lead to food accidentally falling out of your mouth as you talk, which most of us would rather not see.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks about our lives as being either being a good tree or a bad tree and that a person is known by the fruit in their lives. Likewise, a good tree does not bear bad fruit, and a bad tree does not bear good fruit. For Jesus, what is in a person’s heart will eventually rise to the surface of a person’s life in their words and their deeds. Thus, Jesus concludes, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) According to Jesus, our choice and use of words say a lot about what our hearts are full of. Simply put, words matter.
In sports, we often use the phrase “trash talking” when it comes to competition. Trash talk is defined as saying insulting things, especially to an opponent in a contest or a game. In the spirit of competition, players on opposite teams try to hype their ability or pull down their opposition’s ability. It is usually good-natured fun. The problem, however, is when trash-talking is part of our daily conversation. When we use words to degrade, humiliate, or shame another person, we reveal our hearts’ nature. Whether calling people names, using derogatory labels, or merely bad mouthing another person, such word choice demonstrates the deeper parts of who we are. Our word choice reflects our character and cannot be separated. Nor can we justify ours or someone else’s word choice by simply saying that’s just the way they talk. For as Jesus says, “our mouths speak what our hearts are full of.”
As followers of Jesus, our choice of words should demonstrate our relationship with Jesus. We cannot claim to live in a relationship with our Lord but then use hurtful words to others. In everything we say, whether in conversation, on social media, or any other outlet, we should ask ourselves, “world Jesus say it?” At times, I know that Jesus must be disappointed in the words that come from my mouth because they do not match the one who supposedly lives in my heart. Words indeed matter whether they are coming from our mouths or another.
As a follower of Jesus, we should preface everything we say with the prayer of the psalmist who said, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14) God’s grace should filter everything we say. And when we filter our words with God’s grace, then our words will demonstrate the nature of our hearts. Otherwise, we are just trash talking, and this is not the way of our Lord. Our words matter to God, and our words should matter to us as well.
Conversations from the Couch 