Acquitted or Condemned by Words

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

ACQUITTED OR CONDEMNED BY WORDS

 

Matt 12:33-37

33 "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. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." 

NIV

Jesus is still refuting those accusations of the Pharisees regarding Jesus driving out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus now makes the comparison of a good and bad tree. We know that He has used a tree as a symbol of man before. Some of the Old Testament writings, such as David who wrote the first Psalm makes the same comparison of men being like a tree planted by the stream of water, which just happens to be Jesus. Paul also makes the same reference in the explanation of the fruit of the Spirit. It is not strange at all that if we were to approach a particular fruit tree, such as an apple tree, that we would see apples. It is quite natural to expect oranges if we walked into an orange grove. So it is with our words. Because we are born again, bible-thumping, Spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ, our words would naturally be in line with our belief. We would not say evil things about God, as the Pharisees had about Jesus. We would never use the name of Jesus for anything other than one of His teachings, or when we pray, asking the Father in the name of Jesus. We would always have the highest praise on our lips for Jesus. The world is not like us, for they use the name of Jesus as a curse word, in fact, they have given Jesus the middle name of H. However, Jesus makes it clear that our words are a result of what is in our hearts. If our hearts are pure, if we are dedicated to Jesus, then from our heart will flow words of praise and honor for our Lord. The problem which could interfere with exhibiting good fruit is our human nature. Sometimes we can get in the way, either through words that could be considered gossip, or criticism, or judgmentalism. There is also the possibility that we think more highly of ourselves than we should, which shows up as being prideful in our hearts and thus gets expressed in our words. However, from a humble heart, comes humble words, just as apples come from an apple tree. We need not even try to say good words, for if our heart is filled with the Spirit, good words will naturally flow from us. However, if we have quenched the Spirit, holding Him back, perhaps there will not be so good words coming from us, for then our words would be coming from within a heart that does not have room for the Spirit. Let us always be aware of the Spirit within so our words will be filled with good things. As we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, then our words have acquitted us, as God has declared us holy and blameless in His sight. Let us continue with good words.