Words Expose the Heart

Sticks and stones are launched by hands
but words expose the heart.


That is my own attempt at crafting a Proverb about the power of words. Not that there is a lack of Proverbs about the power and revealing affect of words. Indeed the Proverbs is full of timely instruction for the wise about how to harness their words and warning against the fool who spews out words like acid, burning everyone who is within splashing distance. Read these great ditties from Proverbs and let them sink deep into your heart.

The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. (15:2)

Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. (4:24)

He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend. (22:11)

Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince. (17:7)

What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars, signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. (NLT) (6:12-13)

The thrust is if you are wise you will exert every possible degree of discipline in the use of your words and when those bad ones slip out you will own them and clean up the mess that they have caused. But the bigger issue involved is that the words we use are like the fruit of tree, they reveal the relative health (righteously speaking) of our hearts.

A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. 34 You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. 35 A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. (NLT) Matthew 12:33-35

Our words are on display, both those proclaimed from the roof-tops and those whispered to our nearest neighbor. They are displaying the treasury of our heart. A good heart is one that has been filled up with the riches of Christ and then daily lives “in Him”. For Christ alone can mend our brokenness and restore us the image-bearing statues we were designed for. Lean on Christ. Let your heart be transformed. And let your words be like sweet fruit, displaying the richness He has deposited in your hearts.