Our Words Will Either Acquit or Condemn

April 24, 2019

Our Words Will Either Acquit or Condemn

“And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.”

Matthew 12:36-37

The words of Jesus are always challenging to us. Challenging to interpret – is he using hyperbole again? -- and challenging to implement in our lives. As an example, in Mark’s Gospel there is a story of Jesus cursing a fig tree for not having any figs. But it wasn’t fig season! How are we to understand this story? Are we really expected to actually turn our cheek after being assaulted, or forgive those who offend us seventy times seven? Jesus never said it would be easy to be his followers!

Today’s passage is a part of two other sayings of Jesus in which he dramatically elevates the power of our words. In verses 33-35, Jesus spoke of good trees producing good fruit and bad trees producing bad fruit. He says whatever is in your heart determines what you say and in this context equates our words with deeds. Jesus says what we say carries the same weight as what we do. He also made this point in the preceding paragraph when he said anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. (Matthew 12:32) Jesus wants us to understand the importance and power of our words.

Jesus’ teaching is almost completely lost on today’s politicians as they slander one another with regularity each evening on the TV news. It is not just the politicians who have missed Jesus’ teaching on the power of our words. At a recent church conference a speaker characterized those who disagreed with his position as being an Ebola virus on the church. And Jesus wept.

My Takeaway: More and more every day, I see where Jesus is calling me to a life that differs in almost every way from the life style of the prevailing culture. As I seek to be his fully-devoted follower in this present age, I will inevitably be drawn into times of conflict and disagreement. My prayer is that I will always speak with the words of Jesus and not speak in the ways of the world.

Sē’lah

Alex

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.