“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”” Matthew 12:36-37 ESV
Reflection: why is it important to weigh every word we speak?
When I was in my teens, I had to bicycle from our suburb to downtown for an after school job. And back then there were no bike lanes so I had to share the road with cars. And when coming up on a red light during the rush hour, I remember thinking about all the cars just sitting there, about how much fuel and oxygen they were consuming, and how much pollution they were causing. This was also in the days of lead gas and no pollution control, so bicycling among the cars, inhaling the fumes, was certainly not pleasant and probably very harmful. We have since then come a long ways at least controlling pollution from cars, thankfully. In fact, many devote much time and effort, even their lives, to combat air pollution and protect nature. But, I’m wondering, are we as concerned about “word pollution” as we are air pollution?
Word pollution?
Jesus made a very interesting, but such a powerful analogy between the words that come out of our mouths and the fruit that comes from a tree. ““Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” Matthew 12:33-35 NIV. Wow, how true is that?? We all have been around people who spread poison with their words. Speak half truths, trying to deceive and manipulate others. And the scary part, Jesus says that,
“the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
What the heart is full of. Before thinking you’re off the hook here since you don’t spread pollution with your words, Jesus goes much further. He says in our focus verses “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”” Matthew 12:36-37 ESV.
Even careless words?
In some translations, it says “idle words”, or wasteful words. Kind of like a car sitting on a red light consuming fuel and oxygen, but not going anywhere. Ok, I think this should cause all of us to consider what we speak about. And if we take a moment to self reflect, what we speak about is so very revealing about us. And everyone around us can see it, and are the recipients of our words. Affected by them. And Jesus says that it really matters, what we talk about. That, on judgement day, we even have to account for every word we have spoken!!
So, let’s carefully consider today what we talk about and say, and the words we use. Are we spreading pollution and poison by our words? Then perhaps we have never let Christ into our hearts, to transform us. Are we consuming God’s word, (like fuel and oxygen), but just speaking idle words around others? Or are we using our time wisely, speaking kind words of truth with grace, taking after our Lord Jesus?