January 15, 2014

"But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” - Matthew 12:36-37

I am reminded of the saying I posted some days earlier, "May I think before I speak, but may I pray before I think."  I must be careful in what I say to others.  My speech is to be encouraging and for building up of the saints. (Romans 14:19, Ephesians 4:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:11).  It is not to be used for the tearing down and cursing of men.  James 3:2-12 describes how we should not use our tongue and the danger it poses to our being:

If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.  Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.  Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.  Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles!  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.  But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.  Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?  Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Dungy says, "Think twice before you say idle [empty] words, even if you think they are justified.  Someday, we'll all be asked to account for what we say."  Not only am I going to be accountable for what I say, the words I say might steer my life and lives of those around me.  Therefore, it is very important to keep my heart close to God and to be focused on His character. 

Jeremiah was being mocked for his ministry and his sermons.  When he brought the word of the Lord to the people they derided him daily.  They watched for his mistakes and for him to stumble.  They wanted to take revenge upon him for these words of God.  Yet Jeremiah when he considered not speaking the words of God reflected this, But if I say, “I will not mention His word or speak anymore in His name,” His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.  I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. (Jeremiah 20:9)

May I also be as Jeremiah, so filled with God's Word and Spirit that I cannot speak in any other way but to edify others and build up those whom God created in His image.  May I seek to contribute to another's life, a life Jesus had on His mind when He died on the cross.  And may I be so filled that I can't keep it inside.