March 10

Mar 10 - Today from Proverbs 10 we look at verse 20
"The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value."

This proverb reveals that the tongue and the heart are intricately connected, and that the fruit of the tongue is a reliable indicator of a person's standing with God. Jesus teaches the same principle in Luke 6:45 where He says, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." A key word in this thought is the word overflow. It could also be translated surplus. Everyone is capable of pretentious speech, but neither our proverb nor the teaching of Christ is referring to pretentiousness. It refers to the raw overflow of the character of heart. If you observe a person long enough, particularly in candid situations, the tongue will reveal what is really in the heart.
What comes out of the mouth has value. This is not simply speaking of good advice, although that could be included. It speaks of integrity. It speaks of how much trust one can place in the character of the person speaking. If a person is abiding in the character of Christ (faith expressing itself through love), what comes from the heart through the mouth are expressions of love. Whether the expressions be comfort, edification, encouragement, instruction, or even correction, it can be received as valuable because of the integrity of the character from which it flows. If a person is living for him or herself, then what proceeds from the heart and through the mouth are selfish expressions, and selfishness promotes evil. Evil causes hurt.
I don't know about you, but I prefer to seek relationships with people whose speech has value. Value adds to life. I try to avoid relationships with people who are so self-focused that they often cause hurt in the lives of others. What 'little value' there is in their speech, it doesn't seem worth the time to separate it out of the worthlessness of the bulk of their verbiage.
Am I judging? I am not judging them to condemnation. God is the only judge who sits in that capacity. But I believe we are to make right judgments as to what influences we are willing endorse or enter into. Jesus teaches in John 7:24, "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." In our passage from Luke 6 He says in verse 44, "Each tree is recognized by its own fruit." Don't you suppose that we are to judge the quality of the fruit before we attempt to ingest it?
Our first reflection today should be to examine our own heart to see if we are adding value to those in our areas of influence. This means we are to die to our self-serving ways, and allow the character of Christ to guide our thoughts and words. Instead of being a part of the problem of hurt in this world, we need to become a part of the solution in Christ.
Our second reflection should be to examine the 'fruit' of the people we are tempted to allow to influence our lives. Whether they be friends, people in the workplace, sports stars or media personalities, we need to judge the fruit of their lives before we emulate or endorse their character. What exactly is the value of the word of a super-star millionaire who cheats on his wife or does drugs and endangers lives on the highways? Why would I want to listen to anything he has to say? Where are the role models for today's generation? We need to be careful that we do not judge by mere appearances. We need to make right judgments. You can pretty much trust in the words of a person of integrity. They do the right thing for the right reasons on a consistent basis.
"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." -Galatians 5:6b