James 3:12–Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. 

One of the things that make us fascinating as people, is our ability and struggle to be consistent from our “hearts and mouths”.  That what we talk about to others can be an indication of where our heart is.  But we can also deceive our hearts by saying what is right, but our heart be in a very different place…

In context, James is talking about our speech.  That what we are talking about should correspond to what is at the root of our hearts, love.  Like Jesus said, “that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).  So James is speaking about the impossibility of a a bitter heart, having the capability of being genuinely loving and cleansed in it’s speech…

The goal of being authentic starts with our hearts and how we deal with them before God, and that maybe a moment by moment thing!  So sometimes because we haven’t “burrowed down” to the real issue of our hearts, we can speak politely and kind towards people.  Which I think we should do, but eventually we should get down to the real issue of what we say, and why our heart does not match up, so we can be genuine.

It is possible to live a long time and be divided in your own body.  That we can be a “salt pond” in our hearts, while trying to speak from a place of love.  But there is great torment in being “a divided individual”, where what we say, and how we feel becomes too much work.  God knows that having a peaceful heart with Him, and loving speech brings a unifying peace overall, or true worship.  But to be divided and deceptive is really self-torture.

In His Love, LD