Watch what you say

“But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37
I remember a school project we were given once, where we had to keep a log of every conversation we had through a single day. We had to record the time it began and ended, who it was with, and what the topic was. The first day I seemed to manage ok, talking to my family in the morning, my teachers and classmates at school, family again when I got home. But in the evening when I went to Air Cadets, within ten minutes I’d completely lost track of who I’d been talking to or what I’d been talking about. Keeping a track of everything you say is a lot harder to do than it sounds!
Some people find it creepy that God not only hears everything we say, but He remembers it all. But we should look at it on the other hand: He takes this level of interest in us because He loves us. Even so, I suspect most of us will be somewhat embarrased when we get to heaven and see the volume of careless words we have spoken throughout our lives. It’s not the deliberate, carefully chosen words that demonstrate what is in our heart, but the words that come out of our mouths spontaneously, when the heat is on. If someone cuts you off in traffic, is your first instinct to curse them, or to ask God for patience? At the sight of a beautiful sunset, is your first response to praise God, or to bemoan at how the day is over and you didn’t get everything done that you wanted to? It’s these kinds of moments that show to us what is really in our hearts. “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him” (Matt. 12:34-35).