TAMING THE TONGUE

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.–Colossians 4:6   The tongue is a barometer of the soul. What we say reveals a lot about what we are. What comes out of the mouth reveals what is in the heart. With that in mind, beware of the person, and be careful about being the person, who must always have the first word, the last word, the loudest word, the most words, and the harshest words.   Much could be said about each of these–give them some thought! People do this for a reason and it’s not good. Some of the factors are pride, fear, anger, bitterness, etc., all of which the Bible condemns. Think before you speak is still good advice.   Let me add one more thing to the list—beware of the person who always uses the “I” word. This relates to everything I’ve just mentioned. It, in fact, gets to the very heart of the problem. To put it quite simply–we tend to think far too much of ourselves, and it shows up in our speech.   Since we are accountable for every word we speak we had better choose our words carefully. The content, the tone, the manner, the amount, and the timing of our words are all important. Knowing God is judging us should cause us to judge ourselves. If we do, I suspect we’ll all find someting that needs to be confessed and corrected. THINK ABOUT IT!