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\u2018No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Luke 6:43-45).

Has anyone ever washed out your mouth with soap? I seem to recall being threatened with the Sunlight bar a few times. I suspect my mom was wielding it. Maybe you have warned your children if their choice of words didn\u2019t change, you\u2019d have to get the detergent out.

I totally understand the impulse for such threats and that they are not intended to teach anything theological or spiritual. But I wonder if such language doesn\u2019t expose our unwillingness to understand the true nature of the human spiritual condition.

Do we think of religion, even the Christian faith, as simply a form of behaviour modification? If we can just tweak our language over here or adjust our thinking on this point or change our conduct on these few occasions, we will be godly. Many preachers are guilty of essentially preaching \u20183 steps\u2019 for self improvement sermons.

Years ago, I came across this sentence, \u201cJesus\u2019 doctrine of the kingdom as both inward and outward, coming first in the heart of [a person] and after wards in the external world, upholds the primacy of the spiritual and ethical over the physical\u201d (Vos, Geerhardus. The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church).

I know it\u2019s a bit of a complex sentence, but for some reason it struck me, and it\u2019s stuck to me like a bur to a hand knitted mitten. I\u2019m sure I had heard such things before but now they had hold of me. The Christian religion is first a religion of the heart. It is the heart that matters most. And we need a heart transplant. All of us.

Washing away some dirty words or eradicating some bad behaviour will not suffice. More of the same evil will always work its way to the surface. Jesus put is succinctly, \u201cFor the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.\u201d

The entire New Testament objects to the popular expression, \u201cits not what you say but what you do that counts.\u201d Both matter! And both reveal what the heart is made of. We must be concerned with our hearts and their fruit which our words and actions reveal. If they are evil, we are in trouble.

The Christian religion is not simply about behaviour modification, even though that is part of it. It is primarily about heart transplants. Or, to use Jesus\u2019 language, \u201cYou must be born again\u201d (John 3:7). And that is what Jesus came to do. That is why he died. He came to cleanse us, not on the outside, but on the inside, so that we can produce good fruit from good hearts.

That is why Paul told the church, \u201cBe filled with the Spirit\u201d (Ephesians 5:18). The clearest evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit is in the things Christians speak. Start reading at Ephesians 4:16 through the end of chapter 5 and notice how often Paul refers to matters of the tongue.

We cannot grow up into Christ without our speech changing. But washing our mouths will have little effect except causing us to gag. We need a heart transplant and for that we need the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Trust me, Jesus is up to the task. \xa0