How To Hold My Tongue: Part 4
OPENING PRAYER:
Creator God, I come to you recognizing that I am fearfully and wonderfully made in your image. I desire to honor you and represent you well in this life. Help me through this time with you today to listen and learn how to walk with you more faithfully. In Jesus name, amen.
READ:
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and saltwater flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” James 3:9-12 (NIV)
“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.” James 4:11 (NIV)
“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.” Titus 3:1-2 (NIV)
“A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.” Proverbs 20:19 (NIV)
“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.” Psalms 34:13 (NIV)
REFLECT:
Have you ever heard someone just reading another person the riot act and the phone rings and they pick it up and politely say “Hello, this is John. Can I help you?” without a hint of anger? Have you ever gone to church with your family and on the way had a family fight yet minutes later be singing worship songs side by side in God’s house? How is this possible? It is like getting both fresh and saltwater from the same well or picking apples and oranges off the same tree. It just does not make any sense at all. Yet, if you are like me, we do this more often than we would ever admit, even to our closest friend.
How about this – ever been guilty of befriending a person and days later trashing them behind their back? What about leaders in government, bosses, teachers, or other people in positions of authority – ever speak hurtfully about them to others? Ever publicly criticize on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media in a way that dishonors the God that commands you to be in obedient submission to those same leaders?
Gossip, slander, hurtful lies, and the like are all tremendously hurtful to our relationship with God and our witness to others of the Christ that lives in us. A good friend of mine once asked me, “do you think that Christians are known more for what they are against rather than who they are for?” Sad but truer than I would like for this to be.
Steven Covey, in his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People training, tells the story of a father on a subway doing nothing about his kids being out of control and bothering others. Finally, out of frustration, a passenger confronts him about his lack of parenting. The father, as if from a stupor, apologizes and explains that they have just left the hospital following the death of his wife, and their mother. “I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.” Sometimes our careless words express only our ignorance of what burdens others are having to bear.
APPLY:
Take stock of the times that you are caught with words inconsistent to your desired witness. Take quick corrective action to stop, confess and repair what you can. Avoid those that are not helpful to you in representing Christ through your life. Work to get to a place where you can. Ask God to help you see others’ needs instead of their offense. Change your cursing to words of empathy and compassion.
Our continued prayer is “Help me to guard my words whenever I say something.” Psalms 141:3 CEV. If you have not already, memorize this and put it into practice. Replace complaint with praise and prayer. God is certainly worth it in any and every circumstance if you just give him opportunity to open your eyes to it.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee. (From song Take My Life and Let It Be by Frances R. Havergal)
Amen