A Person Is Known By Its Mouth

[VERMAURICE BROWN]

A person is known by its mouth

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten, because a tree is known by its fruit. 34 You children of serpents! How can you say anything good when you are evil? The mouth speaks about what overflows from the heart. 35 A good person brings good things out of a good treasure house, and an evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure house. 36 I tell you, on Judgment Day people will give an account for every thoughtless[a] word they have uttered, 37 because by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:33-37

Jesus calls the Pharisees "evil" "How can you who are evil say anything good?" How can someone who does not know Christ pass judgment against Him? If people who don’t know Jesus appear as if they know all about Christianity and say that it’s filled with hypocrites they have no basis to make that judgment. So that means you don’t have to put any credence at all into what they say.

“You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”

Words matter. God says we will give an "account" of "every careless word". "careless" here means inactive, idle, and worthless. It’s not just "small talk" we’re considering here – but it’s when we aren’t choosing our words that our true character is revealed. Your words reveal who you really are – that’s pretty sobering, actually.

We must watch how we speak about others because God will hold us in contempt of unGodliness.
How one perceives themselves, is their free right, given to them by God, and how we judge them is held against us who judge more than who is being judged. Think about it. That's why God has the final say on who's righteous or not. As the Lord said. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord." Instead of the vengeance, it should read, "judgment is mine," saith the Lord. For God knows his children and he knows who's been naughty and who's been nice.

As Jesus said, "It's not what goes in the mouth, but what comes out that condemns ones soul."

So like you would for any audit, or any final exam, you prepare. Prepare now by doing a self evaluation, a "self audit" if you will. And ask the Lord to reveal to you areas He wants to work on. He won’t lay the whole thing on you at once but just take it one class at a time and when it comes time for the final exam, you won’t show up unprepared.