“Congenial conversation—what a pleasure! The right word at the right time—beautiful!
GOD can’t stand evil scheming, but he puts words of grace and beauty on display.
Listen to good advice if you want to live well, an honored guest among wise men and women.”
Proverbs 15:23, 26, 31 MSG
Gracious conversation. Words of beauty. Good advice. Are these the edifying morsels that flow out of your lips? On a consistent basis…or rarely? Well, we all know the only right answer.
Proverbs…wise sayings from God…admonish us to use our words carefully. And when we heed that advice, our discerning words come with God’s blessings!
How cool is that! Not only have we blessed someone with our words, but God puts our words on display!
Not only that, but as we tune into “a right word at the right time” and listen to His advice…we live well! When we heed God’s Word, it’s always a “win-win” situation.
So, how do you curb your tongue? James gives us even more insight why it is so necessary…”A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that.
By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.” James 3:3-6 MSG
YIKES! Look what a careless word has power to do! Such a contrast to the appropriately timed right word, which brings pleasure and beauty.
It’s our choice. Jesus tells us, “out of the overflow of the heart, our mouth speaks”.
Hmmmmmm…that is tell-tale. We might be able to muster up words of grace and beauty occasionally, but it will not be our “as is” if we don’t have a right-with-God heart.
Do your surgery, Lord. “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer!” Psalm 19:14
