"Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here's what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful;” (1Peter 3:10)
"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt." (Col. 4:6)
“A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything--or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire.
A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.” (James 3:5,6)
Is there anything in our body more powerful than the tongue? O, how do we crash one another with our words! We see it everyday around us, people using this small organ of the body to destroy God’s children! Especially in the church where we are supposed to live in harmony and peace!
If you are jealous of another, the temptation is to say unkind or depreciating things, but if we live in the power of the Holy Spirit, He will enable us to check such words and replace them by those that suggest kindly consideration on the part of ourselves and others. Endeavour to say all the good that can be said, and none of the evil. It is remarkable that when we make the effort to speak kindly on behalf of those against whom we feel exasperated, the whole inward temper changes and takes on the tone of our voice.
There should be salt in our speech--purity, antiseptic, and sparkling like the Book of Proverbs. Whenever we mix in conversation with people, we should be aware of an element in us which makes it impossible for them to indulge in ill-natured gossip or coarse jokes. We must continue in prayer that God would open to us doors of utterance, so that we may speak of the hidden beauty and glory of our Saviour. Sometimes, also, when we are hard pressed to know how to answer difficult questions, it is given to us in that same hour how we ought to speak, and we find that the Holy Spirit has found an utterance by our lips. (Luk. 12:12; 1 Pet. 3:15)
It is recorded of our Lord that during His trial He spoke not a word to Pilate or Herod, but as soon as He reached the Cross, He poured out His heart as their Intercessor, saying: "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do!" Speak more to God than to men who may be reviling and threatening you. It is blessed to realize that He is able to guard the door of our lips, for probably there is no part of our nature that stands more in need of His keeping power.
