"I Misspoke"?

From time to time, we hear prominent people say they "misspoke" (here are 9 of them). The question is, did they really misspeak?

When Jesus brought a scathing rebuke against the Pharisees regarding the words they used, accusing Him of healing the demon-possessed man by the power of Beelzebub (Matthew 12:22-24), Jesus told them ("knowing their thoughts" - Matt. 9:4):

"Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

He went on to say: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things."

Question: Did the Pharisees "misspeak"? Answer: No, they spoke the exact words they were thinking in their heart [mind], just as the above 9 prominent people did.

This is why Jesus warned the Pharisees (as He warns us), "that for every idle ["barren" - 2 Peter 1:8 KJV] word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12:36-37).

What's the bottom line to all of the above?

We need to seriously "think" about the words we are going to say, before those words exit our mouth (Psalm 39:1; Proverbs 13:3; Proverbs 21:23), for there is no "misspeaking" when it comes to the thoughts and intentions of our heart.

Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets

Comments