Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 24 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. —Proverbs 4:23-2
Matthew says in 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What I love in my heart, the center of affections, will dictate my words and actions and lead to either freshwater springs of life in Christ, or undrinkable salty waters.
What do I love most of all? As a Christian, the answer must be the Lord who wrote my name in the Book of Life before the beginning of time, called me to faith in Jesus His Son by lifting the scales from my eyes, and pursued me and sealed my faith with the Holy Spirit.
The world is full of distractions and while I am saved, I am far from fully sanctified. I am prone to wander. Therefore, I must guard my heart diligently through discipline in reading and knowing the Word, praying and fellowshipping with other believers, and seeking to grow in my love of the Lord.
If I love the Lord (however imperfectly in this life), I will seek to be more like Him, in thought, words, and deeds by putting off the old nature of devious talk and crooked speech. The Book of James speaks clearly in 3:11: “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and saltwater?”
Our tongues can be tamed to speak from wisdom what is right and true. I do not want crooked speech and devious talk to flow from my mouth that weakens my testimony of faith, hinders my prayers, or causes me to turn my eyes away from the Lord I love.
For Reflection
Will I now ask the Lord to forgive my careless sinful words?
Am I ready to ask the Lord to do, in and through me, what is the best reflection of Him?
What areas of your life do you long to be more like Jesus and less like the sinful world?