Good Morning,
“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips [to keep me from speaking thoughtlessly]” Ps.141:3 amp
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.” Pr. 18:21
And Jesus said:
“But I tell you, on the day of judgement people will have to give an accounting for every careless or useless word they speak. [every idle word]
For by your words [reflecting your spiritual condition] you will be justified and acquitted of the guilt of sin; and by your words [rejecting me] you will be condemned and sentenced.” Mt. 12:36, 37
“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” James 3:6 NIV
Back in the day, I dated a man who talked without taking a breath. There was a one way communication as I listened. At the time, I did not understand why he talked non-stop and why I could not get in a word. Frustrated, I began to study about the tongue, the mouth, words, gossip, talebearer, babbler and everything I could find that related to the things we say. One of the things I learned, was that those who talk incessantly will tell on themselves because everyone talks from the overflow of what they’ve put in their heart. Just by listening we can know what is in another person’s heart. We can learn their dreams, hopes, priorities, grudges, struggles, secrets and attitudes. All by listening. The Bible talks about how sin is not absent when there are so many words. Pr.10:19
All this talk reflects our thought life. What we ponder long enough will eventually come out of our mouth. We can think good and bless people by our words or we can curse them in our thoughts and eventually contaminate our lives and those around us. Like Proverbs said; it is life and death. When someone is gossiping, we are not to feed their flame but throw water on their babble, by changing the subject. You will notice how easily they slip from that subject right into the other. Do this enough, and they will stop sharing their juicy news.
What about accountability? If they are not willing to listen to you, what about the Bible? The words says, that the wise welcomes correction. Today, you hear: “you are judging me.” Isn’t the Book of Proverbs the very seat of Godly advice and holding another accountable? I always tell a person, “it isn’t what I say, but what the Bible says.” Then, they are arguing against God, not me.
I ask you, have you done that? Giving correction is not a way to make and keep friends. You will not be popular, but possibly resented. The consequences can be quite grave. I knew a couple who were wonderful people and active in the church. Whenever he would come around he always had some gossip to spread, with a smile of course. The gossip went into my husbands ear, as I always walked away. This man was an outstanding person in Christ, in the community, had a good reputation, very friendly, hard worker and if anyone needed help, he was the first person to be at the scene. He was loved. Finally, I became so frustrated over the gossip, I asked my husband to talk to him about it. He refused and because he listened, [according to the word] he became a partaker of the gossip. The next time I saw his wife, I confronted her about it and asked her to speak to him. I believe I was sensitive and kind at the time. She became outraged, and defended him, telling me he would never do such a thing. Was she blinded because she was too close to the trees? Could it have been pride? I don’t know. To this day she avoids me and refuses to talk to me. Looking back at some options of what I could have done was, go to our Pastor who were good friends with us [who was also her father] and talk to him about it and leave it in their hands. As I see it though, the best way would have been; while talking to the gossiper, casually give an instance about someone I knew who talked about others all the time and did not realize how he was hurting them. No names given. That would have been using wisdom. The correction would have been direct, but in a more sensitive roundabout way. I think that when we try to hold each other accountable, we have to be discerning to the character of that person and how they will respond. We all know those who will never accept any kind of correction, because they already have all the answers. Right?
There are thousands of verses about the power of our words. If we couldn’t be obedient, God would not have given us a choice. We are blessed to have the freedom to meditate on the word, get it deep down inside of us and speak life. Everything we put inside of our hearts will either come up out of our mouths, saved for later or digested and dispelled.
The wisest people I have known in my life are quiet, humble people with few words.
Our own consolation for misspeaking at times, is that the Book of James tells us, we all struggle with our tongue. We are in this together and together we hold each other up, as we walk this path.
Let’s pray,
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your reminder of how important our words are to ourselves and others. Help us, bring healing and health with our words. Stop us in mid track in our words not to speak any condemning, ill words that would cause contamination and erosion in another’s life, instead minister your grace and your goodness to those who need it. Right now, we confess to speaking without thinking and ask forgiveness for any words we have spoken that have brought wounds and pain. Forgive us Lord. We repent on this. We ask like David, you would put a guard upon our mouths, so that we would not sin against you in any way. We choose this day to pause and ponder, publicly and privately before we speak and when we speak, our desire is to give you glory in our words. In Jesus name, amen
(Image: Screengrab of AP Photo/via Daily Mail)