Well that's one test of character it's hard to deny. And a quick and straightforward test to apply to what we hear from political leaders, and influencers, pundits, social analysts, and from the cacophony of voices purveying the opinions that populate that part of the online environment where we prefer to live and move.
Words betray the contents of the heart; words reveal our moral condition; words are judged by whether they produce evil or produce good. "What kind of person would say those things, in that way?" is a clarifying question. It's not only what the words spoken mean; it's what those spoken words say about the moral values of the one who speaks them. That is an important analytic criterion in deciding the moral quality of a person, and the consequent value of their words.
"Each tree is known by its own fruit…" So says Jesus. Such alert discernment of character and words is required of all those who follow Jesus, and confess the Lordship of Christ. So if we self-identify as followers of Jesus where is the evidence – it's those acts, words and attitudes whose point of origin is the heart, the place where the evidence lies of who we truly are.
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