NO IDLE WORDS
Another type of words which should never come out of our mouth is idle words. Matthew 12:35-37 says, “The good man, out of his good treasure, brings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil things. And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”
Before the Lord Jesus said this, He said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for by the fruit the tree is known” (v. 33). According to the context, the fruit does not refer to one’s conduct, but to one’s word. This means that a person’s words are good if that person is good, and a person’s words are evil if that person is evil. We know a person by the words he speaks. There are some who gossip day and night. They tell tales all the time about others and are full of slander, railing, criticism, and judgment. Their mouths are filled with all kinds of filthy, dirty, and evil things. It is obvious that they are corrupt trees.
The problem among God’s children today is that they cannot judge others by the words they speak. They cannot judge, because they are the same. The Lord tells us that the good man, out of his good treasure, brings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil things. The mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. By its fruit the tree is known.
If a brother spreads evil, critical, or sinful things all the time, we do not need to determine whether his words are true. We can tell him that his act of spreading such things is itself an unclean matter. We must realize that the words of God’s children are the fruit of their mouth. No one whose heart is holy will speak filthy things. No one whose heart is filled with love will speak hatred. By its fruit the tree is known.
This does not mean that we can speak anything as long as it is true and factual. Sometimes it is not a matter of whether or not something is a fact. Something may be a fact, a definite fact, yet it should not be a fruit of our mouth. It may be true, but we should not utter it. This is not a matter of truth, but a matter of idle words. The word may be true, but it is an idle word. I have just said that our speaking must be according to facts. However, not all facts need to be spoken. We cannot and we need not speak idle words.
The Lord said, “And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment” (v. 36). Idle words from a Christian’s mouth will not be spoken once but twice. Whatever is spoken carelessly today will be repeated again in the future. It will be repeated in full, sentence by sentence. When it is repeated the second time, we will be justified or condemned based on it. We will have to render an account on the judgment day for every idle word we have spoken. I hope that God’s children will learn to fear Him. We should learn to reject every inaccurate word and to speak accurately. We should never speak about things that do not concern us, and we should not say anything that reaps no benefit to others or to ourselves.
One can tell how much a person has been dealt with by the Lord by the words out of his mouth. No one who has been disciplined by God has an undisciplined mouth. A person who lies or who speaks idle and careless words is of little use to God; he is good only for the day of judgment. We have to learn this lesson from the beginning. Those who speak defiled words are defiled persons. Those who speak corrupted words are corrupted in themselves. The kind of words we speak reveals the kind of persons we are. By its fruit a tree is known. By our words we are known.
It is important that we pay attention to this matter. We know a brother by the way he speaks. Today the church is filled with lies and idle words. How strange it is that few children of God ever condemn them! No one among us has the right to speak any idle words.
(A Proper Sister in the Church Life, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee)
