01.16.2016 New Testament: Matt 12.33–35

To read the Bible in a year, read Matt 12.22–50 on January 16, In the year of our Lord 2016

By Don Ruhl

Do you want to speak good things? If so, change your heart. From where else do you think your words come? They do not just suddenly appear on your tongue and then make their way out. You learned the words and kept them in your heart, and they come out when you speak, as Jesus declared,

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matthew 12.33–35). 

Jesus demanded that we make a decision. We decide whether to make the heart good and its words good, or to make the heart evil and its words evil. What comes out of your mouth? People are listening. What do they hear?