Welcome, Y’all!
This is
, once again bringing you this week’s devotional. This week I will be addressing the words with which we speak. Let’s jump in!You’ve probably heard your parents, pastor, or other adults tell you to think before you speak. And that is truly a saying which we need to keep in mind. James tells us about the tongue:
“With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people in the likeness of God.”
And more often than not, the words coming out of our mouth unfortunately fall in the second category described in this verse.
Often on the spur of the moment, we will say something that is hurtful to another person, is a lie, or is something profane. Words that we later regret saying. Often these are things we say before we take time to fully think them through. Sadly, that is because our hearts and minds are sinful.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:34:
“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
The saddest thing about the sinful words we say is that those words are reflecting the thoughts of our hearts. The things you treasure up in your heart, whether good things or bad things, will eventually be reflected in the words that come out of your mouth.
So even though we should probably think before we speak at the moment we speak, maybe what we truly need to do is think about the right things way ahead of time. When we choose to keep good thoughts in our hearts about a person, rather than angry thoughts, gracious words will come out of our mouths. When we choose to keep the truth in our hearts, truthful words, rather than deceitful and lying words, will come out of our mouths. And when we treasure up pure words in our hearts, the words coming out of our mouths will be pure rather than profane.
We don’t always have the time to think before we speak, so we need to have our hearts in the right place. Just like athletes condition their bodies before a big competition, we need to condition our hearts before we speak.
I’ll leave you with these words from the Bible that teach us how to condition our hearts:
“I have stored up Your Word in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.”
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord,
Help me to keep Your Word in my heart so as to guard against ugly words. Teach me to control my tongue. Help the words that come out of my mouth be honoring to You.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Related Verses:
Related Songs:
The Tongue is So Small — Patch the Pirate
I Have Hidden Your Word — Steve Green
Great job, Mel!! :D