Several
years ago, I stood aghast as I watched my friend’s house go up in flames. She
had left her home with her family only thirty minutes earlier. Now I stood in
front of the raging fire, staring at her infant in my arms. What would happen
now?
The book of
James tells us that the tongue is like a small spark that starts a fire. This
took on new meaning for me in light of watching the fire wreak havoc on my
friend’s home. The tongue’s harm is just as dangerous. Once a word has been
spoken, there’s no taking it back. The damage is done, and sometimes the
hurtful repercussions have only begun. Words have the power to destroy
relationships.
I talked
about in an earlier post how the enemy plans to kill, steal, and destroy. Many
times he uses our words as weapons. Learning to tame the tongue is difficult,
but necessary. We must learn to be quick to listen and slow to speak. This isn’t
a lesson we learn once, but one that we have to practice every day of our
lives.
The author
of Proverbs tells us in 25:11 that a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold
in settings of silver. God can use a kind, compassionate response to diffuse
potentially explosive situations. May our words be pleasing and acceptable in
your sight, O God!
So, like
the children’s song suggests – “O be careful little lips what you say…”
Labels: Inspirational
