8 But no one can tame the tongue ; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God ; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.
Perhaps you heard the other day about French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G-20 Summit - apparently, he was about to address the media and encountered a "live mic", as it's called, in other words, the mic was on and his comments about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were relayed to the waiting press. He said he considered the Israeli leader to be a liar - and he was talking to President Obama, who replied that he had to deal with him every day.
You know, it's a oft-used cliche that God is always watching, and that's true. We can be assured of that, but we cannot know who else may be watching or listening to us. And, when we choose words or engage in reaction that may not please God, someone may be around that just might need to see an example of the character of Christ. Jesus talked about being a stumbling block to others.
We have to be so careful to use our words wisely - they're given as gifts to us, and we can use them to bless or to curse, to reinforce our witness for Christ or damage it. As Chonda Pierce says, sometimes our words pop out before they are sanctified, and I would maintain that if we thought before we spoke or allowed the Holy Spirit to filter our words, much of what we say would never make it those 6 inches between our brain and our tongue. Sometimes words spoken in error can haunt us and words that we speak intentionally by not "in the Spirit", words directed at others or about others, can do some significant harm, as well. Words are powerful containers, and God intends for our words to be consistent with His Word!
No comments:
Post a Comment