Program Transcript
Episode 41: Speaking Our Hearts: Good Fruit or Bad?
Heather M R Olsen

Welcome back to Illumination. 

I am always grateful when you tune in as you have so many choices. Even though I can’t see your faces, I’ve become attached to you.

Please follow Illumination: Hebrew Insights on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn for real time releases of podcasts. 

Each time we open the Bible and dig into God’s Words, He has something new to teach us—even if we’ve read those words recently.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active.

Today we are going to focus on our tongues—a small but powerful body part. 

In truth, the tongue, or our words, reflect truths that are in our hearts. So what is in your heart?

We are going to focus on passages from

• James 3:3-12
• Luke 6:43-45 

But first, some physical tongue facts: 

• Most of us have one.
• Used for eating, breathing, and talking.
• It has 8 muscles… that almost never get tired.
• Each is as unique as a fingerprint.
• The only muscle that works without skeletal support.
• Between 2,000–10,000 taste buds.
• When we gain weight, the tongue is the first to bulk up.
• Boys typically have larger tongues than girls.

The book of Proverbs has many things to say about one’s mouth, words, lips or tongue. In fact, Proverbs 18 has a title summarized by translators, “A Fool’s Big Mouth.”

Proverbs 18:7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 

Proverbs doesn’t just contain warnings, but also instructions.

Proverbs 16:4 Pleasant words are honeycomb—sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. 

Let’s read our two passages.

James 3:3-12

Taming the Tongue

³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and saltwater flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

We will add in a teaching of Jesus’ that whatever is in our hearts comes out as either good fruit or bad fruit.

Luke 6:43-45

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Verse 45 is very condemning:

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

The Message, paraphrased, puts it this way:

Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.

Do we speak truth, lies, compliments, criticism, words of affirmation, judgment, half-truths, or sloppy communication? 

Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun is a delightfully informative book that outlines various ways believers should work on thoughts, behaviors, and habits. We are not in a faith that simply checks the boxes, but rather on the journey of sanctification—which is a big doctrine-y word that means becoming holy or, easier yet, becoming more like Jesus.

Calhoun reminds us:

• Words are small but hold incredible power.
  • i.e. Intense love, intense anger, intense hate.
• Words can accomplish almost anything and destroy almost anything. 
• Love and War are both expressed with the tongue.

If you recall in history,

One man, decades ago, turned an entire country against the rest of the world and inspired atrocities against humanity. Estimates of over 11,000,000 humans were executed because of his hate.

The tongue—It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:8).

Words mark us forever. 

Think of quotes from good and bad leaders; 

Something a friend or family said… that hurt;

Social media is so instant, whether the words are true or not.

One area of each of our personal spiritual growth can be shown in our words.

COMMISSION & OMISSION

In a positive light, we can speak Words of Commission: Action—Positively (saying positive things) building others up.

We can also exercise words of Omission: Inaction—Refraining (from saying things that are rude, angry words, lies, or being critical).

We all are somewhere in our walk with the Lord.

We are all either developing, dormant, or declining in our spiritual lives.

• Let’s take time to ask ourselves, where am I failing?
• What are signs of my own spiritual growth?
• Find one way of being careful with our words.

My daughter gave me a book entitled Four Agreements.

The spirituality is wonky but the truths are applicable.

The first agreement is, be impeccable with your word. 

What does impeccable mean?

My kneejerk definition thinks it means accurate, or careful, or to choose our words wisely.

But in reality, impeccable is a Latin word that breaks down like this:

• In/Im-: is a Latin prefix meaning “not”. 
• peccare: is a Latin verb meaning “to sin” or “to make a mistake”. 
• Therefore, impeccabilis, is a Latin adjective from this prefix and verb to mean, “not able to sin” or “sinless”. 

That sure changes the sentence immeasurably.

Be sinless or faultless with your words—impeccable.

If we were all impeccable with our words, think of how different the world would be.

In Judaism, there is a Hebrew phrase and Jewish spiritual practice entitled, Tikkun Olam תיקון עולם.

Feel free to check out the website, Chabad.org. This is an Orthodox Jewish site focused on teaching and learning. There is a great explanation of Tikkun Olam, but let’s break down the
Hebrew first.

• Tikkun: The shoresh is “TKN” [letters: tav, qof, nun], meaning “to improve, fix, prepare, set up.”
• Olam: In Biblical Hebrew, it means all of time/forever/everlasting. In later/modern Hebrew, “olam” came to also mean the world/universe.
• In short, Tikkun Olam is a practice of repairing the world.

• How can our words be used to repair the world? And not just refrain from making it worse; how can we make it better?

We need to change our use of words (Spiritual Disciplines Handbook).

But how? How do we change the use of our words?

If you claim to be a child of God… if you ARE a child of God… you are an inhabited being.

Being a child of God, Romans 10:9-10 pertains to you:

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

You and I can’t do it alone. We are powerless against this delightful and nasty little body part.

We who are inhabited beings have this promise in Ephesians 1:13.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

With the Holy Spirit’s help, you and I can begin to tame this tongue.

• God can change critical attitudes, gossip mongering, impatience, angry outbursts, etc.
  • Some people say they don’t have a filter.
    • God can create a new filter.

• And, not so fun fact, if you are talking with someone and they are critical about someone else, you can bet they are critical about you behind your back, too.

Quick personal assessment:

• Are you quick with praise? 
• Is thank you a fast phrase on your lips? 
• Do you stop gossip? 
• Do you think and speak about the good of others?

We will all fail. Probably more than once.

But with our forgiving God, we get a do-over—repeatedly.

The day I was writing this teaching, I was simultaneously texting a girlfriend. I was checking in to see how she was doing. Her husband had been deployed for over a year, and she was single-parenting her kiddos and parents-in-law.

She told me he is home now—Praise God—but her word for this season in her life is relinquish. She realized she needed to start sharing the parenting or relinquishing the sole part of it.

I could identify with her and messaged that I hate those hard character traits we’re called to develop. Her response? (In jest I’ll add): 

“How dare God help me smooth out my rough edges.”

Yes, at times, He does require us to improve upon ourselves.

AND with that, He is always willing to help.

In this case, He helps us smooth out our rough edges, one person, activity, or moment at a time.

And it is rarely easy.

But every time we practice this spiritual discipline of controlling our tongues, each of us will get better at it.

What if we each practiced this Tikkun Olam—healing the world—one word at a time? one sentence at a time? one conversation at a time? 

By being a blessing to others with our words, God heals our world. 

How do we start?

I read a statistic that (on average) it takes 3–6 weeks to break a habit. Maybe you personally take 52 weeks to break a habit; we’re all different!

The prophet Zechariah passed these words of the LORD’s to Zerubbabel in,

Zechariah 4:6 ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

By my spirit! Remember we, who believe, are inhabited beings?

With this Holy Spirit inhabitation, let’s practice intentional awareness.

We can start by asking ourselves each time we feel verbal angst,

• Is it true?
• Is it kind?
• Is it necessary?

Paul reminds us in Romans 12:2 to, 

Not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Some strategies are: 

• RECOGNIZE one way we want to improve. Start small and name it.
• Pray. This is a powerful practice. Call on the Holy Spirit to infill you and convict you when you fail.
• Memorize Zechariah 4:6 ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
• Count to 10 before you speak.
• We can even say to ourselves “STOP” when we are physically or mentally going to a place we shouldn’t go.
• Imagine a heavenly rewind of everything we each said in life, or even only what we said towards the end of our lives. If we were standing before God, would we each be proud of what we said? or ashamed?
• Remember we all will make mistakes. We will stumble.
  • Instantly confess and begin again. Sinners but saved.
• This SANCTIFICATION process—becoming more like Jesus—is a lifelong journey. And we won’t arrive until we are with Him.

But, make sure we are:

• Not DECLINING in our spiritual lives.
• Nor DORMANT in our spiritual lives.
• But continuing to DEVELOP.

Psalm 51 is a great Psalm of confession.

Verses 10-11 were in the liturgy of my denomination when I was a child. We recited it in a song before communion every Sunday.

Psalm 51:10-11

 ¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

I pray that each of us finds a part of our words that need review and the conviction to begin our journey to speak impeccably.

Gracious Father, 
We confess that our tongues have too often spoken words that wound, deceive, or destroy. We have used our mouths to praise you and yet curse those made in your image. Our words have revealed the sin that still lurks in our hearts. Forgive us for the harm we have caused and cleanse our hearts by the mercy of Christ. Fill us with your Spirit, that our words may bring grace, truth, and life.

AMEN

**Heather!

©2025 Heather M R Olsen, Illumination: Hebrew Insights. All rights reserved.