To Be Still and Know...What We Say Matters
"It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth." Matthew 15:11
As I sat down today to write this blog post I searched for verses on the "mouth", "talk" and "speech". Wow! There are so many! God definitely cares about the things we say, and sadly we are very careless with our words. It is wise to think before we speak but usually we find ourselves speaking first and thinking later. How many hurt feelings, offended hearts and broken relationships could be avoided if we would simply think before we speak. We must first bring our thought life to the Lord and ask Him to help us not let it run wild. To be able to think before we speak we must first know how we should be thinking! We need to practice making our thought life one that is peaceful and loving and righteous before the Lord. Our minds need to be a place where we would welcome Jesus and not be ashamed to have him take a look around. Once we get our thought life under control we will be better able to work on the things we say. "May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14
"And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely my brothers and sisters, this is not right! " James 3:6-10
Oh isn't this passage of Scripture just so true! One minute we are singing worship songs in church or praying or reading the Bible out loud to our kids or in a Bible study and the next minute we are yelling at our kids, or screaming at slow drivers, or speaking badly about someone or telling someone a piece of our minds. Yikes! I know a few times I have been spending alone time reading the Bible and praying and one of the kids interrupts and I go from a place of worship to a place of ugly impatience in no time flat, as I yell at them to stop this or that. Just like James 3 says "...this is not right!" The many times of guilt and shame I have brought on myself by just spewing off at the mouth!
Proverbs 10:19 "Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut." Women have a tendency to talk ALOT! Especially in groups of other women or when we get together with our dearest friends. I think that is how we women fall into gossip without even meaning to sometimes. We just talk so much that stuff spills out without us thinking about what we are saying. That doesn't justify it by any means, but rather gives another good reason to be conscious of what we are saying and weigh our words carefully. As the old saying goes "If you have nothing nice to say, don't saying anything at all." Of course there are other times when gossip is purposeful with harmful intent. That old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." couldn't be farther from the truth. Words can cut you to the core and leave scars that may be invisible but are nonetheless real. Once something is spoken it can only be forgiven, not forgotten. Relationships are torn apart by careless words, by mean words, by cutting words that can never be taken back once they leave the lips. "A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends." Proverbs 16:28
"Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble." Proverbs 21:23
Just like we are supposed to think about things that are good in the Lords eyes "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8, we are also supposed to talk about things that are good in the Lords eyes. If we have our thoughts on the things listed in Philippians 4:8 naturally the things we choose to say will be better thought out. "Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes- these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God...Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." Ephesians 5:4&10
"Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior." 2 Timothy 2:16
God's Word is so living and active! All we need for living the best life possible is right here in His Word. All we have to do is read and study Scripture. The answers to our questions are in there. The more you read and learn the more you will want to read and learn. Every time I sit down to write a blog post on a certain topic I am amazed at the wealth of passages in the Bible on each one. I don't even share all the ones I find, or else it would become a book! I pray that as you read these posts you are being inspired to get into God's Word daily and find out all God has to say to you personally! I pray His Word comes alive for you and you crave to know more and more the closer you walk with Him.
"And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely my brothers and sisters, this is not right! " James 3:6-10
Oh isn't this passage of Scripture just so true! One minute we are singing worship songs in church or praying or reading the Bible out loud to our kids or in a Bible study and the next minute we are yelling at our kids, or screaming at slow drivers, or speaking badly about someone or telling someone a piece of our minds. Yikes! I know a few times I have been spending alone time reading the Bible and praying and one of the kids interrupts and I go from a place of worship to a place of ugly impatience in no time flat, as I yell at them to stop this or that. Just like James 3 says "...this is not right!" The many times of guilt and shame I have brought on myself by just spewing off at the mouth!
Proverbs 10:19 "Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut." Women have a tendency to talk ALOT! Especially in groups of other women or when we get together with our dearest friends. I think that is how we women fall into gossip without even meaning to sometimes. We just talk so much that stuff spills out without us thinking about what we are saying. That doesn't justify it by any means, but rather gives another good reason to be conscious of what we are saying and weigh our words carefully. As the old saying goes "If you have nothing nice to say, don't saying anything at all." Of course there are other times when gossip is purposeful with harmful intent. That old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." couldn't be farther from the truth. Words can cut you to the core and leave scars that may be invisible but are nonetheless real. Once something is spoken it can only be forgiven, not forgotten. Relationships are torn apart by careless words, by mean words, by cutting words that can never be taken back once they leave the lips. "A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends." Proverbs 16:28
"Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble." Proverbs 21:23
Just like we are supposed to think about things that are good in the Lords eyes "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8, we are also supposed to talk about things that are good in the Lords eyes. If we have our thoughts on the things listed in Philippians 4:8 naturally the things we choose to say will be better thought out. "Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes- these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God...Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." Ephesians 5:4&10
"Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior." 2 Timothy 2:16
God's Word is so living and active! All we need for living the best life possible is right here in His Word. All we have to do is read and study Scripture. The answers to our questions are in there. The more you read and learn the more you will want to read and learn. Every time I sit down to write a blog post on a certain topic I am amazed at the wealth of passages in the Bible on each one. I don't even share all the ones I find, or else it would become a book! I pray that as you read these posts you are being inspired to get into God's Word daily and find out all God has to say to you personally! I pray His Word comes alive for you and you crave to know more and more the closer you walk with Him.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, my dear friend! I am giggling through my tears at the irony (aka, God's perfect timing) of this post! Every night, the boys and I say a modified version of the Lord's Prayer, and amend as needed. Well tonight, after the phrase "Forgive us if we've been bad" (which we say every night), I amended to say "And please forgive Mommy for yelling so much tonight." Well, the boys busted out in laughter. They concurred, and modified the phrase to say "Please forgive Mommy for SCREAMING so much tonight!" Oh Stefanie, the perfect timing of this blog... you made my heart smile and feel reassured of His grace and how the Holy Spirit is alive and at work! I truly thank God for YOU!!!!
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