1 Chronicles 16:8
⁸ Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done. (NIV)

We must be aware of the fruit of our lips. So much of Scripture calls us to give praise to the Lord, to proclaim His goodness. It is not God who needs this practice. We need it. Proclaiming His name, and giving Him praise is for us. It powerfully benefits our souls.

The Bible says that we eat the fruit of our own lips. Have you ever eaten sour grapes? It is miserable. On the other hand, a juicy sweet grape explodes with flavor refreshing our bodies. Words work the very same way. The things we say enter our spirits and we experience the sweetness or the sour ache of these words deep in our spirits. We would never sit and eat a whole cluster of sour grapes, but we can easily eat a whole day’s cluster of negativities coming out of our mouths.

The sinful nature has repositioned the eyes of our hearts so that we continually evaluate each moment based on how well it provided us with comfort, ease, pleasure, or benefit. Our eyes, in our natural state, tend to focus on what brings discomfort, difficulty, pain, and loss. To jolt us out of clusters of negativity, God commands us to force words of praise out of our mouths.

Giving praise and proclaiming His goodness fills our hearts with the sweetness of hope, giving us patience in affliction. We force ourselves to remember that God is good and that He even works in the negativity of our life to do something good in us, for us, or through us. God is always good. Our spirit eats the hope, swallows trust, and tastes the light forthcoming. We are changed from the inside out through the command to proclaim His name.

We also eat the fruit from the lips of others. This is why what people say in our presence is vital. What we say in their presence can be sour or sweet. The Bible reminds us we are to salt our conversation always giving it a better taste, not only to our own spirit but to others in earshot. In this way, we guard our hearts and we are used by God to redeem others’ hearts from anxiety, depression, and anger. Our words sweeten their spirit through Christ.

Prayer: Lord, keep me reminded of Your command to praise and help me to keep this command that I might be filled with the sweet fruit of the Holy Spirit. Amen.