Do you want to speak? Pause a minute and think about what your usual conversations have been like! What is the subject of most of your discussions? The words spoken earlier or yesterday – did they edify, bless and save? Is your speech profitable to others? Do you talk too much and not give opportunity for others to speak? Do your words build others up or pull them down? Is there any benefit people derive from them? Above all, do our words glorify God? If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that much of our conversation, prayer, fasting, preaching and teaching is nothing more than empty talk.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has warned against speaking idle words – I mean, words that do not edify or build others up because for every idle word a man speaks, he shall be accountable. In Matthew 12:30-34, we are told that God takes notice of every word we say, even that which we ourselves do not notice. Vain and idle talk is a product of a vain and idle heart; they are unprofitable and not pleasing to God Almighty.
Remember, God has entrusted us with a treasury. The heart is the treasury; the words are the things brought out of the treasury (Matthew 12:35). It is the character of a good man that he has a good treasure in his heart and from there he brings forth good things. Love, kindness, good affection, tenderness, wisdom of utterance, power to counsel and good knowledge are all good treasures hidden in the heart; the law of God has written them there, ready for use as occasion demands.