I hate listening to myself preach.  I don’t like the sound of my voice.  But for “quality control” purposes, I regularly take the time to listen to my sermons.  I have found myself more sympathetic towards those who fall asleep during my sermons.  Occasionally, I do the same. But listening to myself helps me look for verbal noise, bad phraseology, and fuzzy communication. Hopefully it makes me better.  I have a lot more listening to do.

But what if we all could listen to what we say throughout the day every day?  What would our words tell us?  Imagine that someone without your knowledge place a recording device on you.  When they played back the recording, what do you think you would hear?

Our conversations and words reveal a lot about us.  Consider what Jesus told a group of religious people about their words.

“You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil?  For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” 

Matthew 12:34

Brood of vipers?  Evil?  Wow!  Their words must have been something else!  But that last sentence holds an important truth for us.  Our mouth speaks from our heart’s overflow. Cardiologists have a battery of tests to determine the health of our physical heart.  We can diagnose the condition of our spiritual heart by listening to our words.

Listening to WHAT We Say

One of the diagnostics of our spiritual condition is the content of our words.  The words we choose reflect what is in our heart.

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” 

Ephesians 4:29

Corrupting talk can come in many different forms.  Initially, we usually think of certain words that most consider vulgar.  Certainly, using God’s name with these vulgarities would be included. But even decent words can have a corrupting effect depending on their usage.  Gossip, negativity, and complaining do not build up nor give grace to those who hear them.  And they certainly never fit any good occasion.

When I negativity, complaining, and gossip in my conversations, it’s time for me to do a heart check.  When my heart is focused on God, I have no reason to complain, be negative, or spread gossip.

Listening to HOW We Say What We Say

The manner of our speech is just as important as the content of our speech.  One can speak perfect acceptable words in a manner which communicates something else entirely.  Have you ever had someone tell you they are “fine” in a way that clearly indicated they were not “fine”?

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Colossians 4:6

How you ought to answer each person.  Gracious. Seasoned.  These words and phrases remind us that the manner of our conversation is every bit as important (or maybe more so) as the content of our conversation.  Do we speak in gracious ways?  Do we find the most attractive ways to say what we intend to communicate?

Moving Toward Heart Health

We cannot fix our physical heart by ourselves, but we call on the services of a skilled cardiologist.  In the same manner, we do not have the ability in ourselves to fix our defective spiritual heart.

In the same manner, when our words indicate our heart has strayed, our only recourse is to return to Him.  We find God to be a gracious God who is more than willing to continue His work of restoration in our lives. In fact, the revelation about our wayward heart is the work of the Holy Spirit leading us back to Him.

If your words are critical, remind yourself of God’s graciousness to us and extend that grace to others.  (Ephesians 4:32)

When you find yourself complaining, remember that God is good and that He will withhold no good thing from you. (James 1:17)

When your words are negative, remember that God is good.  He is in control. The object of our negativity is still within His ability to make it right.  (Romans 8:28-39). 

God is glorious.  There is nothing on earth that can compare to knowing Him and allowing Him to work in our lives.  Sometimes our words indicate our heart has fallen into misbelief about God, His purposes, and His promises. Listen to yourself to see where you are.  Then listen to God and allow Him to lead you back to where He wants you to be.