“A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.” Proverbs 13:2

Humans are more than just material beings. We also possess souls. As we consider how our bodies function, it is important to keep this in mind. In other words, if asked to describe the function of the mouth, we might list eating, drinking, the intake of oxygen, the expulsion of carbon dioxide, and speech. But, forgotten from this list is the important role our mouths have in the nurture of our soul. A recent example of this truth stood out to me. The week before his son’s heart surgery, Brother Louis was scheduled to preach both services. I asked him what his plans were for the messages, expecting him to continue his series through the gospel of Mark. His reply was something like this: “I know I’m going to need a lot of grace next week so I’m going to preach on something related to the grace of God.” That led to his messages from Psalm 23, messages that greatly blessed the congregation. He was arming his soul with thoughts and his mouth with words that would then nourish his own soul and others in a time of need. While building life on some fuzzy notion of “positive thinking” will not sustain itself, it is nonetheless true that cheerful, hopeful, edifying speech produces good in our own soul and blesses others. Conversely, angry speech produces strife, complaining speech produces greater depression and misery. What fruit has your mouth produced today?