341. Tuesday after Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.
Lord, let my thoughts, words,
and deeds please thee. Amen.
Matthew 12, 33-37. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers! how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment: for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
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Let truth, charity, goodness, and purity dwell in your heart, and they will of necessity cause you to speak good things. As every tree brings forth fruit after its kind, so every man speaks according to the nature of his heart. If the heart be evil, bitter, unclean, worldly, selfish; so will the speech be also. There are, to be sure, many degrees of wickedness in the hearts; but there is nothing truly good in an unregenerate man, and he cannot speak the holy words of love. Above all, then, see to it that you have a new heart, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Even men can judge from your words what it is that dwells in you; especially the saints, who have the Spirit of God. But even though men might be mistaken in you, the Lord always knows exactly what you are; and your speech always reveals something of the quality of your heart. The spirit which dwells in you is in your words, and it will in some way affect the spirit of them that hear you, and will, when it meets a kindred soul, fructify it, and cause it to grow, and to strike its roots deep, and appear in the person’s life. If the spirit in that which you say does not at once strike the right kind of soil in the one to whom you speak, yet it may after repeated trials in the course of time fasten itself to his heart and strike root. Thus the word is a great power in the world; so great that there is no greater. Let it be a good spirit which lives in you, and brings forth your words.
Even if you have the Holy Spirit in your soul, his light in your understanding, his purity in your heart, his peace in your conscience; so that you are justified by your words; — do you still keep careful watch over yourself, and guard your tongue; for your evil nature is all the time struggling to come out into the light, and the devil rejoices in putting evil words into the mouth of the saints. The sins of unchastity, anger, covetousness, impatience, and the like, stir in you; and if you are not on your guard, they will flow out over your lips. Your tongue, as Saint James expresses it, “defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature.” Certainly the Lord may thus humble his children, and in that way benefit them; but the damage done to others by an unbridled tongue is something which you cannot prevent. Always keep in mind, then, these words from the Lord’s own lips. “I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Strive earnestly to benefit your neighbor by everything that you say; let this be your constant endeavor! Let everything which you speak be true and pure and good. In this way you may bring forth much good fruit; you may thus scatter many blessings among men. Do it! — Mercifully help us, O God, always to speak words of truth and charity, to honor thee and edify our neighbor. Keep us from all evil speech; let wicked words neither be uttered by us, nor find their way into our soul. Amen.*
I lay my sins on Jesus,
The spotless Lamb of God;
He bears them all, and frees us
From the accursed load.
I bring my guilt to Jesus,
To wash my crimson stains
White in his blood most precious,
Till not a spot remains.
[TLH 652 (listen here), LSB 606 (listen here), ELH 239 (listen here)]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.