Watching Our Words

 

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it would give grace to those who hear.  Ephesians 4: 29

Watching our words has got to be one of the hardest things we do. It is SO easy to let something we shouldn’t say slip out.

I guess the first defense is to mind your heart. In Luke 6:45 we read, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” If your heart is full of anger, grumpiness, hurt, that’s what going to come out of your mouth. If, on the other hand, your heart is full of gratefulness, joy, peace, that will be what you will be known for. I remember a board book I used to read to my kids when they were little called my happy heart. That was my desire for them, to live lives with hearts overflowing with love for others, especially for God.

Having our heart in order, we can still slip up. We all have days where we’re tired, in pain, emotionally drained. We’re just not as careful with what we say or how we say it. Sometimes we speak our pain, instead of our love. We’re human, it’s going to happen. The key then is to keep short accounts. As soon as we’re aware of having said something we shouldn’t we need repent and seek forgiveness, both from God and from the person we’ve wronged. In Ephesians 4:26 we are instructed to not let the sun go down on our anger and in Matthew 5:23-25 we are encouraged to settle matters quickly with a brother or sister who has something against you. The longer you let it wait, the bigger and harder it gets. I’ve found the best time to ask for forgiveness is the second the offensive thing popped out of my mouth!

Looking at the opposite perspective, our words are so powerful. We have the opportunity to build others up in incredible ways. Really, it doesn’t even take words sometimes. We can give a stranger a smile, or open a door for them. Little things go a really long way. Telling someone they look nice or you like their shirt. When you hear someone speaking kindly to another, speak up and tell them you appreciated it. Thank someone when they do something nice instead of just walking by. It costs us nothing and takes so little from us but can do so much for someone else. Maybe you can even go the extra mile and fill out the survey or feedback form when you received excellent service. So many industries base their rewards and even salaries on those. Most people are too busy and we think we don’t have the time, but really, can’t we take 5 minutes to bless someone?

Here's the Thing: The ideal is to live a life of love and never say things we shouldn’t. If we lived ideal lives then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to come and die for us, but that’s just not the case. Recognizing that we’re not ideal (well, at least I’m not), let’s try to do the next best thing and live lives of blessing that only occasionally need to be restored.