“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.””

~Matthew 12:35-37

I woke up this morning with the above verse floating around in my head. Actually, it was only a portion of this section that came to mind. It was pertaining to the notion that one day everyone will have to give account on the day of judgement for every empty word they have spoken. So, that got me to wondering. What does it really mean for your words to have gone idle? According to dictionary.com, the word idle means:

When you really think about it Idleness is a strong offense. After all, who really wants to be called lazy anyway. But, how many times do we make promises with our words and never actually fill them. Our words are important to God and what we say really does matter in the grand scheme of things. What we say helps to build God’s kingdom here on Earth.

The word used for idle in the Greek is transliterated argos which means; free from labor, at leisure, lazy, shunning the labor which one ought to perform. When Jesus is speaking hes is telling the multitudes and so to us as well to not be lazy in our speech. In other words, he is telling us to:

This doesn’t meant that we can’t joke around with our friends, or talk with our co-workers in a jovial manner. What is merely being said is that our speech should be conducted with thoughtfulness because they can be used for good or evil. Matthew 12:37 says, “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Deuteronomy says it another way. It says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Think about it another way. When you are happy and you tell yourself you are happy your morale is up and sometimes you feel like your jumping on clouds. Or, when you are depressed and you tell your self that you are depressed the only thing that you can be is depressed because you have only spoken depression into being.  Paul has even mentioned in Romans that he considers (that is to think) himself happy.

Be careful what you say. You are not only the light of the world, but you are also the fog horn of the world. Through you many may come to know who Jesus IS and not just what they have heard about him.

Peace, Love, and Christ ’cause you know He died for you!