 The
Proclaimer
Idle Words
In Matthew chapter 12, Christ is accused by the
Pharisees of casting out a demon by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of
demons. This spoken accusation prompts a discussion by Christ concerning
consistency. He shows in verse 26 that Satan could not cast out Satan or he
would be divided and fall. Neither could they pretend to be righteous in
God’s sight and blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. Then in verse 34 Jesus
says, “Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil speak good things? For
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
They pretended to be righteous men, but by
their spoken accusation had proven what they truly were. In verses 36 and
37 Jesus says further, “And I say unto you, that every idle word that men
shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For
by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned.”
The term “idle” in this verse means literally
“ineffective or useless” and refers to a word that does no good (Robertson,
Word Pictures, Vol. 1, p. 97). Let us remember that our words and
deeds are a product of our thoughts. As God’s children our thoughts and
concerns ought to be trying to please God and go to heaven. Not only so, we
need to constantly be doing what we can to help others go to heaven. We
must never forget these goals, but always be mindful of them so that all we
say and do shall be to the glory of God.
Our thoughts affect only ourselves. But once a
thought is verbalized it influences others. We must work to influence
others for good and righteousness ever encouraging and exhorting them to the
salvation of their souls. Paul says, “Let no corrupt speech proceed out of
your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may
give grace to them that hear” (Eph. 4:29). We often identify the terrible
language of the world as being “corrupt speech.” But Paul shows any speech
that destroys rather than building up to be corrupt. Perhaps you’ve been
taught as I was, that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.
But it’s even more than that. We need to use our speech for edifying and
building up.
James says the tongue is a “restless evil, it
is full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and
therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God; out of the
same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things
ought no so to be” (James 4:8-10). We must use our speech to teach others
about Jesus and for encouraging others to do right. We will give account to
God for any words spoken which would damage our effectiveness to this end by
causing others to lose confidence in our desire to serve God or by words
spoken which hurt and destroy rather than help and build up.
This verse is not
teaching that Christians should always be glum and serious, never joking or
engaging in innocent levity. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is a
good medicine; but a broken spirit drieth up the bones.” It does teach,
however, that we should guard against our frivolity being of such nature
that would cause us to loose our influence for right, hurt or discourage
others, damage the cause of Christ, or cause us to lose our own souls.
-- Clark Dugger
The Proclaimer
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