Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. James 3:9 (ESV)
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer Psalm 19:14 (ESV)
Did you know King Solomon (the wisest man that ever lived) wrote 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs and within those chapters, he devoted 150 proverbs to the subject of controlling our tongue/our speech?
Do we realize, our words have the power to heal or to destroy others, as well as ourselves? We think some of the hurtful things we say only affect others but, in some ways, it harms us as well. Being human it is understandable that we will get angry from time to time and want to say hurtful words at another, in an attempt to “get back” at them. To lash out and seek to hurt them as they have hurt us. In the past, I know I have been guilty of this behavior; lashing back at others with angry words, because of the harm they caused. However, we all know this is not the behavior we should have and, we must work to master our reactions to others, most importantly our speech. We need to make sure to not allow uncontrolled anger and resentment to build and fester inside. If we do, and we allow it to build up, there will come a point where it will unleash in the form of uncontrolled words and actions. And then, after everything calms down, we can very well experience hurt, sadness, and regret over our behavior.
To be successful in life we all must learn to control our tongues and our speech. We must learn how to communicate with others in an effective, uplifting manner while learning how to avoid using destructive speech patterns to communicate. As the Bible verses above state, as humans, we have the capacity to give blessings to God and then in the same breath spew out curses to others. This should not be and our Father in Heaven is definitely not pleased.
My prayer is that we seek to get closer to God and His word daily. May we put into daily practice the usage of uplifting and kind words, as our normal speech pattern. When we seek God’s ways and put into practice His words of wisdom, we will gain strength and understanding so when those trying times come our way, we will find ourselves better equipped to respond in a manner pleasing to God.
Blessings,
Angélique
To contact: Angelique@21stcenturygodlyliving.com