I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, Matthew 12:36
Isn’t it frustrating when you receive a text or an email and you cannot determine the tone of the words being sent. The problem with texting and emails is that there is no inflection or emotion and our imaginations are left to determine what we think the intent of the comment is. Is the person sincere? Are they being sarcastic? Are they upset with me? You just can’t tell. But, in the end any issues are usually just misunderstandings and can pretty quickly be cleared up.
The spoken word is completely different. When we speak to people, it is usually pretty easy to determine whether they are sincere, are being sarcastic or are upset with us. And, the issues that we create are not quickly cleared up but can do life long damage to the person being spoken to.
Our problem is that we are so incredibly careless with our speech. We belittle others, we are sarcastic, we are hurtful, we are condemning and we do these things to others without a second thought.
The scripture speaks about our speech repeatedly, and the importance of watching our tongue. Some of those verses are “Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.” Proverbs 21:3; “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:19; “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. ” Proverbs 15:4; “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29; “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.” Psalm 34:13
In our key verse, Matthew 12:36, we see that we will give an account for every careless word that we speak. Boy oh boy do I wish I was a lot quieter ; ) The reason that we will give an account is that our words can either build people up and draw them closer to a relationship with Christ or they can tear them down and push them further from Him.
Words have power, God spoke and the world and all of creation came into being, Jesus spoke and the very waves and storm ceased raging, the apostles spoke and people came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And our words can be just as powerful. Our words can assist in God drawing others to an eternal relationship with Him or they can push people to reject Him more deeply and ultimately to their eternal damnation.
We should speak softly, not in anger or bitterness and our words should be gentle, kind, loving, complimentary and sweet. Remember that they are powerful and could be used by God to bring someone to a personal relation ship with Jesus Christ.
I pray that today you would rejoice over the glorious eternity that awaits you and the Savior through which you have attained it. And because of this, I pray that you would be able to speak softly and lovingly and that those around you would be drawn closer to the Lord because of your gentle and sweet words.
If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and you are like I was, before I knew Christ. You probably find it hard to speak softly and kindly and lovingly. I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver Page and pray the prayer that is outlined there. If you do pray this prayer, asking God for forgiveness, 1 John 1:9 says that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Once you have prayed this prayer, please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I can pray for you and help you to grow in your knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ and He will help you to speak softly : )
Luv ya!
