Diarrhea of the Heart

Taking a break from 2 Samuel today. I've been reading this book and one of the verses caught my eye today.

Luke 6:43-45
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."


What does this mean for us? All the jokes, sassy sarcasm, inappropriate comments...none of those things are coming from our mouths. They are a reflection of what is in our hearts! Our mouth is merely an extension of our heart, verbalizing its desires and thoughts. Instead of telling our brothers and sisters to watch their mouths, we should be telling them to watch their hearts.

If anything, this reveals a certain level of impurity that is in our hearts that is often overlooked. Inappropriate jokes are passed off as "boys being boys". Gossip is passed off as "girls being girls", neither of which is the behavior that God demands from us. We need to examine our hearts so that words contrary to that which glorifies God do not overflow from our heart out of our mouths.

Part of the problem is the amount of junk that we fill in our hearts. Instead, we ought to fill our hearts with God's word, that we may know it, believe it, and live it. If God is truly on our hearts, shouldn't our words be filled with Him?

We really need to watch what we say. The mouth shows what's on your heart.

James 3:9-12
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.