What's In Your Heart Determines What You Say

March 20, 2024

Jesus teaches us that there is a connection between my mouth and my heart. 

Just like there is a connection between our foot pushing down on an accelerator and our car speeding up, there is a connection between what I say and what’s already in my heart. 

Matthew 12:34 Whatever is in your heart determines what you say.  

When we live in close proximity to the people we love it’s inevitable that we bump into each other every now and then. When we are communicating, we bump into each other more frequently. When we bump into each other, what’s in us, spills out. Then, we wonder where that outburst or those hurtful words came from. The truth is those angry, vindictive, hurtful, judgmental, emotional, words come out of us because that’s what’s in there. Whatever is in my heart spills out during those times of conflict. That’s why there is a mess. That’s why angry words spill out, hurtful words, judgmental words, fearful words.  

What is in our hearts comes out of our mouths.

Whatever’s in my heart is going to spill out in my words. 

If our heart is feeling bitter, words of sarcasm spill out. We wish we could avoid it. We wish we could control it. Some of us are good at masking it for awhile. But eventually what is in our heart comes out in our words. We try to dam up the river, but it just keeps building with pressure until eventually all the pent up emotions and fears and anger comes tumbling out like a river out of control.

So, how do you break the pattern? How do you change what comes out of your mouth? 

Since our words are an overflow of our heart we need to start taking our hearts a little more seriously. Instead of pretending that our words didn’t mean anything, we need to ask ourselves why we said what we said. Our words hurt others and they hurt us ourselves.  

You say, “Jesus Christ, will you change my heart? Because I want to say the right kind of words. Will you change my words because I want to have the right kind of heart?” 

You ask for his help with both your heart and your words. He will help. He will come and he will make a difference. God cares about our words because he cares about the way that we love. The encouragement to me is I’m not in this alone. I want you to realize you are not in this alone. God, Jesus Christ, wants to be a part of this part of your life. He’s willing to. He asks to be a part of this part of our lives.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.