Matthew 15:10-11–Not What Goes In That Defiles; It Is What Comes Out

Matthew 15:10-11–"And He called the people to Him and said to them, 'Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes our of the mouth; this defiles a person.'"

Being a person that is prone to vocal verbosity I can speak with a certain amount of experience about the content of this passage.  Speech can be the greatest source of comfort or the greatest source of pain to those around us–depending, of course, upon what we say and how we say it.  This is why it is so important that we would strive to tame our tongues, for they possess a great power for destruction or healing.  The same source of venom is the same source of salve.  We would do well to remember this all the days of our lives.

Ephesians 4:29–No Corrupting Talk

Ephesians 4:29–"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."

This is, in some ways, a very accessible verse, while in other ways it possesses a certain difficulty. The ease of this verse is that some corrupting talk can seem simple to ascertain.  For instance, cussing and downcuts are easy to spot, while slander and glibness can be more difficult to spot.   But the truth is that the most corrupting talk is the kind that slithers without notice rather than the kind that bombards with words like hammerheads.

It is the talk that is divisive, the talk that is deceptive, and the talk that is covert that is most corrupting. This is what Paul is warning us against, that we would protect our speech from such speech as this.  It is by no means an easy thing to do, but it is our task nonetheless.  Let us strive to protect our speech so that we would love and bless all those around us.