If a person has animosity and disdain for people in his heart, he will constantly slander others and talk about them behind their backs. If a person's heart is full of violence and greed, his mouth will speak it. The mouth is simply a loudspeaker for whatever is going on inside.
I wonder what would happen if each of us carried around a voice recorder and recorded everything we said for a week. What would we learn about our hearts, or what is going on in the deepest part of ourselves, if we went back and listened to what we actually said throughout the week?
I have shared this with the Catalyst staff and with my Friday morning men's group- the words of my mouth too often are negative when I talk about other churches. That means that in my heart I harbor animosity or distrust towards them. I no longer desire that, and I have resolved to never say another bad thing about a church from this point forward. I am tired of churches badmouthing each other; I am tired of people dragging their former churches through the mud. I won't be a part of it any more. I love the Church and I love the head of the Church, who is Christ.
I hope that my love for the church and my love for the body of Christ will be found in my speech. More than that, I hope that God continues to change my heart so that my love for God, my love for people, and my love for His church will be greater than anything in my life. Then, I hope my mouth will simply tell the world what is going on in my heart.
