Guarding Our Heart to Tame Our Tongue
“My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.” (Proverbs 4:20-24, AMP)
“The [intrinsically] good man produces what is good and honorable and moral out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart; and the [intrinsically] evil man produces what is wicked and depraved out of the evil [in his heart]; for his mouth speaks from the overflow of his heart.” (Luke 6:45, AMP)
If you put the ingredients together for a pie and put them in the oven, you won’t end up with a roast chicken. If you throw together a batch of cookies, you won’t ever take out and serve a 3 layer cake out of the same ingredients.
What you put in is what you get coming out. This is a foundational idea in the Bible: what you take into your heart is what will end up coming out of you– in word, in deed, and in the fruit of your life.
The wisdom we gain from walking by righteousness and following the Lord gives us life. It helps us to live well. The world may think that living by God’s commandments and in His way is limiting and stringent, when it really helps us to live freely. Knowing God’s commands requires us to guard them in our hearts, to store them up.
But above all else, Solomon urges his son to guard his heart, because everything we do comes from our hearts. If we fill our hearts with negativity, we will act negatively. If we fill our hearts with sluggish frivolity, we will act foolishly. But, if we fill our hearts with God’s Word and His commands, the fruits of His Spirit will flow out of us and be evident in all that we do.
Interestingly enough, the first action Solomon urges us to discipline is our mouths. We should guard our hearts and watch our tongues, because perverse, corrupt talk will affect us and our witness for Christ. Jesus will eventually echo this idea in the Gospel of Luke. The good man produces good actions out of his good, righteous heart. The evil man produces wickedness and depravity out of his sinful heart.
Thus, it is paramount for us to guard our hearts and be diligent about what we engage in. It will affect the kind of Christian lifestyle we live, and the actions we do. Conversely, if we notice that our language and speech is negative, gossipy, or harsh, we should take it as an indication that we need to look to the Lord. The best way to stop a perverse mouth is to confess that shortcoming to God and ask Him to purify your heart. Look to Him and allow Him to flood your heart with His Spirit. Read His Word and allow those scriptures to transform you and produce Godly fruit.
The truth is, we all fall short. We all mess up, especially when it comes to how we speak. There are so many ways we can sin when it comes to our language: we curse, lie, criticize, gossip, slander, and speak inappropriately. Odds are, there is no one who has walked the face of the earth– besides Jesus– who has not struggled with any or all of these.
What this indicates to us is our desperate need for Christ. When I am critical or harsh, I am also glaringly aware of how badly I need Jesus and His life-changing grace. When I feel tempted to gossip, I feel the need to draw closer to God all the more and allow Him to change what is in my heart.
Because yes, we need to guard our hearts, but we also are unable to guard them apart from the help of the Holy Spirit. We need to turn to God, pay attention to His Word, incline our ear to His teaching, store them up in our heart, and live our life in sacrifice to honoring Him.
So, let’s make sure to guard our hearts today. Not in a way that makes us inaccessible or superior, but in a way that protects our fickle humanity from the sin we are so prone to.
