Guarding Our Words

Have you ever contemplated the words that you speak in a day? Now think about the words you speak when you are angry? Are they different?

The Bible talks about the words that we speak and how they need to be, here are some verses that talk about our words:

• Ephesians 4:29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
• Matthew 15:11 "What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”"
• Psalm 141:3 "Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."
• James 1:19-26 "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
  
  22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless."
• James 3:3-9 "When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness."

There are so many more verses that cover our words. If we are not careful about our words, we defile ourselves. We need to make sure our words are not producing questions in other people, our words can give others life or bring them death, in Proverbs 18:20-21 "From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied. 21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

I personally believe that there is meaning behind every word we speak and the more words we speak, the more dangerous and convoluted those meanings can become. We need to guard our lips and watch our words. Are our words speaking life and truth into the lives that we are speaking to or are they bring pain and hurt. Have you ever thought about how you say things? Our words may be nice to say, but if said with an attitude what are we really saying? We are lying to those people and need to watch our actions, to make sure that our actions match our words. 

Our actions, our words, our posture should represent the very nature of Jesus Christ. We need to be willing to look at ourselves, before looking at others (that goes for me too). Because Jesus talks about that in Matthew 7:5 "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Change starts with you, you have to take the first steps, by changing and allowing Jesus Christ to change you, that change will change those around you. Are you willing to change? That is what Jesus Christ wants, a willing heart. If you are unable to change, it isn't that Jesus is failing, it is that you are not allowing Him to change your heart, it is a heart issue.