Watch Your Mouth!

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21 NKJV

James reminds us that the tongue–that little member–holds much power and the only person who controls it–is the person to whom it belongs.

With the tongue we can mend relationships or destroy them forever.

With the tongue we can construct greatness or ignite destruction.

With the tongue we can have peace or chaos.

With the tongue we can create an environment that brings about prosperity or fuel abject poverty.

With the tongue we can speak life–to our bodies and promote healing and wholeness or we can doom ourselves to sickness and disease.

With the tongue–we are responsible for all we say and we must watch what we say because once we say it–we cannot recall words out of the air as easily as we can recall cars that need repair. When we are foolish–we can apologize and ask forgiveness, but it doesn’t take away the sting and hurt of words that linger in the air and in our minds. We must watch our mouths.

When we speak positive things–our words are not often remembered, but the negative things we say, are remembered by others long after we have forgotten what we said.

We have an obligation to ourselves and others to make sure that before we speak, we have prayed and given much thought to how we want our tongues to function. We are to be slow to speak and quick to listen to all God has to say to us and if we listen and obey, we cannot go astray.

Watch your mouth! Think about how words function–to heal or hurt, to spring life or trip to death, the tongue–the tiny member over which we have complete control–must submit to God and only say those things that He says.

We are healed and whole, peacemakers and not peacebreakers, the head and not the tail, providers of those in need and not  manipulators of greed. We are His children, members of a royal priesthood, created to do good, not bad and we shall praise Him for His mighty acts as we live according to His Word so others might see our good works and praise Him,too.

We have shaken off the deeds of darkness and choose to live in the marvelous light of The Lord. We are encouragers to others to live by faith and will not discourage any to live the life God has destined for them.

We are more than conquerors and have victory in Jesus at every turn where the enemy has laid a snare.

We live according to the hope we have in Jesus, not in expectations of mere mortals for they have no power outside of His power to make a positive, lasting, difference in our lives. And we will watch what we say–speaking only as He speaks–so we can obtain what He has already planned for us.

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Twelve Days of Kindness-Day 8!

We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 2 Corinthians 6:3-7 NKJV

On this 8th day of kindness, we are reminded by Paul that everything we do–EVERYTHING–should align with the Word so that we don’t offend anyone by what we do. This is especially true for those who are called by God to teach His Word and are walking–in life–according to His Word.

Sometimes, the truth offends people, but the truth must be told anyway. Now, do we sugarcoat truth or just tell it like it is? If a person is offended by truth, no matter how we try to water it or soften the blow–they’re going to be offended. As one actor poignantly stated, “You can’t handle the truth.”

Why is it that people cannot handle truth? Our perceptions of truth or what is true, are not always based upon truth as it really is. If we are blinded by our bias, our perceptions are cloudy and when people speak truth to us–we don’t accept it as truth because it is in opposition to how we want to conduct our lives.

For instance, there are some people who are natural leaders and some who simply want to be leaders, but they lack the intellect to know what true, effective leaders do. But because they have convinced themselves they know more than those who try to assist them, they become offended by truth because the truth reveals to them what they lack.

The truth reveals to all of us what we lack and what we must change within ourselves and how we do things. Since none of us knows everything there is to know, we must count on others to keep us honest by reminding us when we’re headed in the wrong direction. Considering our own ineptitude about so many things, someone has written a book about everything any of us could ever experience in life. Their opinion in what they write doesn’t necessarily constitute truth, but it is enough to make us think and either confirm or refute what we think we know.

But if our desire is to please God, then we should demonstrate our ability to be patient and kind, as it pertains to what we must accomplish in our ministry that honors Him.

Are we ready to demonstrate all that God desires for us to do? Today is a good day to honor Him by our extending kindness in showing patience, and acting in truth, according to God’s Word, and not our feelings.