Abundance of the Heart

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 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. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment."  (Matthew 12:33-36)

Jesus speaks clearly. He doesn't shade the truth and he doesn't use words that are hard to understand. He is the Word, so it makes sense that he speaks in a way the communicates His message plainly.
As His ministry grew and He became popular with the people, the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees began to despise Him. He was taking away their followers and they didn't like it. Additionally, He would look them in the eye and condemn their conduct. They began to say that Jesus was able to perform miracles because He was aligned with Satan. Jesus tells them that it would be ridiculous for Him to drive our demons if He was an agent of Beelzebub. He puts it like this... "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?" (v 26)
After he deals with their accusation, He teaches them and others about the Spirit and His impact on those that believe. He uses the example of a fruit tree, saying that if the tree is good, the fruit will be good and if the tree is bad, the fruit will be bad. Then He looks the Pharisees full in the face and calls them a brood of vipers. (I like His honesty) He tells them that you can tell a lot about a person by watching their conduct and listening to their words. He says that our actions and our speech are a product of who we are inside. He calls it ... "the abundance of the heart".
Some translations use the term overflow instead of abundance, either word conveys the idea that who we are cannot be hidden for long. Our conversation and deeds will sooner or later demonstrate the reality of our heart. He says that out of the overflow, we speak; out of the overflow we act. It is as if, who we are cannot be contained, but will burst forth from us and reveal the very nature of our souls. That thought can be a little intimidating to me. I know that my actions have demonstrated many times that Jesus still has a lot of work to do in me.
Maybe you are in the same place. If you read further in the text, you will see that one day, Judgement Day, we will give an for every careless word that we have spoken. Now how are you feeling? In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we read...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. This verse is specifically dealing with dealing with arguments against God, but if we are to take those thoughts captive, are we not also to deal with thoughts within ourselves that produce bad behavior and bad speech? Are we not to "transformed by the renewing of our minds"? I know I have read that somewhere. Romans 12:2)
As Christians, as His disciples we have the Holy Spirit living within us to produce transformation. Through His Spirit and His Word, who we are inside begins to change and so what we think and how we act and what we say begins to change. Our old thoughts are taken captive and God gives us a new mind with new thoughts. You might even say that we are born again, with a new father and a new life, with a new purpose and out of the abundance of the heart we speak and act.  
Take the time to ask someone about your fruit. Is it good or bad? Check your heart. How do you speak or act? God promises change to those that are obedient to Him. Something is overflowing from your heart, something overflows from every heart. If we continually feast on good stuff, then we are filled with good stuff and the same with evil. May we stay in His presence, in His Word and with His people and we will be filled to overflowing with His goodness.