Zip Your Lip!
Ponder: That terrible tongue
Scripture: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34 NKJV).
Parents spend the first year trying to get the baby to say something; they spend the next seventeen years trying to get him to be quiet! And so it goes. We talk a lot – probably too much. And our speech gets us into trouble, especially when we’re careless with it. Who among us cannot look back and see dozens of times when “zipping the lip” would have avoided all sorts of problems? “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23).
Even civil law demonstrates the seriousness of our speech. You can be sued for what you say (slander, libel, defamation of character, etc.). Careless use of the tongue could even cost someone’s life. How many murders occur in the heat of arguments? “He who guards his mouth preserves his life” (Proverbs 13:3a).
But the spiritual consequences of an uncontrolled tongue are even more serious. Jesus said that “every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36, 37). Our speech indicates what is in our hearts (Matthew 12:34); and only the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8).
The solution, then, is not to stop talking altogether. Rather, let us purify our hearts, thereby ensuring pure speech. Then, we need to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). Listen and think before you speak. “He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him” (Proverbs 18:13). Or, as the bumper sticker says, “Start brain before engaging mouth.” And when you do speak, “let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt . . .” (Colossians 4:6). Salt makes things taste better; let your speech be such that it leaves a good taste in people’s mouths.
Someone said, “Nothing is opened by mistake more often than the mouth.” Let us this day renew our resolve to bridle our tongues (James 1:26).
Song: “Angry Words”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gifts of language and speech. Help us, we pray, to use them for good rather than evil. Help us to bridle our tongues. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Joe Slater (Justin, TX)