Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

At the age of 12, I was convinced that the use of four-letter words somehow increased my manliness. Because of this revelation, a few of my closest friends and I used profanity often and without restraint – unless our parents were within earshot. We were committed to our cause of becoming a man, and somehow persuaded each other that this was a right of passage for us. However, the reality was quite different. We were not men; we were mere boys with a rebellious spirit and a heart condition.

Now, most 12-year-old boys have absolutely zero heart issues… physical heart issues that is. Though our physical hearts were just fine, our spiritual hearts spoke loudly that there was an issue deep inside. This came to a head when I was spending the night at a friend’s house, and his mom overheard us practicing our “manly vocabulary”. Our version of manliness did not sit well with his mother, and we learned a hard lesson that night. Unfortunately, it was our tongues that played the much-despised role of being a tattletale in our own lives.

Jesus said that we speak “out of the abundance of the heart”. In other words, our speech often tells on us, revealing attitudes and thoughts we would rather not have others know about. While I was finishing up my degree in college, one of the classes I had to take was an in-depth study of diseases of the respiratory tract. Most of these conditions also cause severe halitosis, or bad breath! In the same way those diseases produce halitosis, sinful hearts produce unpleasant language.

My friends and I needed our mouths washed out with soap, but more than that, we needed our hearts washed as well. My 12-year-old rebellious spirit had shown up in my mouth, and if we are not careful, the attitudes we have as adults will show up there as well. Anger, pride, fear, sensuality, and a host of other sins we keep in our hearts will eventually show up in the words we speak.

Let us keep in mind, all talk is heart-talk. Train your heart to grow in Jesus, and your words will reflect it. Neglect your heart, and your very own tongue will tell on you every time.