Watch Your Mouth!

“The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Proverbs 12:18

Have you ever sat across from someone, and as they spoke you felt like something inside you was tearing? Perhaps it was a break up or a rejection. Maybe even someone said something horrid and unkind. The pain is difficult to describe, and I think the first thing we want to do is make it go away. Bury the pain and forget about it.

Have you ever had someone speak something over you like, “You are going to fail.” and then you did and felt like someone just took the rug out from under your feet?

I remember a number of times when people predicted an outcome in my future, and it felt like they were stealing something from me. They crushed a dream and stole it, and took it just by prophesying against me.

We fail to see the power in our words. We speak recklessly. We say whatever comes to our minds without thinking, and then wonder why people get hurt and upset. So many people lack a filter. We speak pain into other people’s lives. We speak failure over them.

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” Matthew 15:18

We are colored by what we say, and so many people try to excuse what horrid things come out of their mouths. “This is just how I talk.” “If I don’t make fun of you, I don’t like you.” “I’m just speaking my mind.” “I’m just being honest.”

Really?! Excuse my surprise but, really?! How can you say mean things to people and think it’s okay? You are not excused with these flimsy, pathetic excuses. Learn to tame your tongue. What happened to, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

I am amazed at what comes from people’s mouths on the news or in videos or what they write on social media. I am pained by mankind’s lack of care for the horrid things which spill out of their hearts like refuse and cover those that hear it.

Hate. Malice. Deceit. Anger. Fear. Wickedness. Lies. Flattery. Does it never end? There is not a politician that I have heard that has not cast truth, justice, wisdom, and kindness aside for their own gain. I am ashamed that such people rule our countries, our world. But who of us can cast the first stone? Have we not said things in anger to a family member or a spouse, or to someone on the other side of the phone? Have we not incited anger by rudely stating our opinion in contrast to someone else’s?

People, one of the things that marks an adult from a child is their self-control, but for those of us that follow Jesus, that is even more so. You don’t have to agree with someone to speak kindness or wisdom. There is a difference between being unkind and offering a friendly rebuke. But more often than not, what we offer is our own bloated opinion laced with words that serve like arsenic to the soul.

We must surrender our hearts and allow God to change what is in it so that our words might be changed, but until we have nothing but His words to offer, then let us remain humbly silent.