Have You Ever Had To Eat Your Words?
Good Morning Friends,
This Lent it would be great if we fasted from gossip and realized that we are not only what we eat but also what we speak. This Lent, if we cannot add the habit of speaking in love in our daily walk, maybe we can offer a sacrifice of silence. Have You Ever Had To Eat Your Words?
Scripture: It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.
Matthew 15:11 (NRSV)
For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue–a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
James 3:2-12 (NRSV)
Message: Say aahh. Hmmm. It seems you too have a tongue and if I were a doctor I could use what I see of it as an index to the health of the rest of your body. So too it is with the words we say, for they are an indication of the health of our spiritual body….our heart. You see, there is an inability of people to communicate with each other, especially emotionally, so what typically we see around us are people unable to love each other. I figure that this Lent might be a great time to have a little checkup and test our ability to tame the tongue and use the sound of silence to prepare our words. And fail though we might, it might just move us into greater spiritual health and a closer relationship with God. You see, the tongue has the power of life and death….it can bring joy or despair… it can be productive or destructive. So this Lent I am going to be counting my words for the impact they have. So this Lent I am going to endeavor to speak words of love in the places I frequent during the week. Friends, never underestimate the power of a word…the power of the Word. By our words we will be justified or condemned.
Pray we are guided as an act of love to know when to speak out. Pray we know and experience times when being silent is the greatest kindness we might show to ourselves as well as others. Pray we realize that we can sin by what we say and that what we say can reveal how sinful we are. Pray we understand the great power of words. Pray we understand the great danger of words and the poison they can be. Pray this Lent we choose our words wisely so that that habit might continue through each of the days of our lives. Pray we hear God’s words so that they might teach us. Pray that the darkness in our brain be redeemed and spout seeds of a better vision that guides our words.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 