My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
James 1:19-20 NIV
But I tell you that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgement for every empty word they have spoken. Matthew 12:36 NIV
As children, I’m sure you heard the phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. Well we can protect ourselves against the words of others. But, the big question here is can we protect ourselves against our own words. Can we speak only as the Bible tells us to speak? When we speak are we pleasing God or are we grieving the Holy Spirit?
I don’t know about you, but there are times when my mouth flies open and a few seconds later I am standing there saying ” Oh no, did I say that out loud?”. God has been working on me about keeping my mouth closed.
You see God designed us perfectly. He gave us two eyes to see and to look closely, he gave us two ears to hear and to listen closely, and he gave us one mouth which we should open carefully. I’ve often heard it said that we have two ears to listen and one mouth to speak, meaning that we should listen twice as much as we speak.
In the first scripture passage, James warns us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. There was a time in my life when I prided myself on quick comebacks. I could cut someone down to nothing with my tongue. I was known to be quick witted. I thought that was a good thing. It made people think twice about saying something unpleasant to me. The problem with this, is that sometimes I cut someone down to nothing before I thought it out and later had said things that I regretted. The reason that human anger does not produce the type of righteousness that God desires is because the devil can use our anger and cause us to sin. One of the easiest ways for the devil to creep in is through a crack in the door called anger. Once we have anger, it is so easy for the devil to get us to use our mouths to sin.
I am still working on my mouth. Now there is nowhere in the bible that says you should let people just walk all over you. But, there are numerous passages about being kind and compassionate. I tend to listen to what someone is saying and often times their very tone sets me on edge. When I read this passage, it spoke directly to me. I have been trying to train myself to not only hear, but to really listen to what the other person is saying. I try to really figure out where they are coming from. Sometimes people are really hurting and they are just not doing a very good job of expressing the pain that they are feeling. One thing I have begun to do quite a bit lately is to ask God to cleanse my heart of all bitterness. I find that when I disagree with someone, especially if they have said or done something harmful to me or a family member, I get bitter. The Bible tells us very clearly that bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit. When I feel bitterness creeping in, I try to immediately ask God to remove it. If I don’t do this, I will probably find myself speaking words in anger that I may regret later.
The second scripture passage that I included today is a bit scarier. In this scripture passage, Jesus is speaking and telling us that on judgement day we will give an account of every empty word spoken. Ouch! In my case, this could take a while. I read this scripture passage and immediately became convicted. So what does he mean by empty words? Well, the Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:29 to let no unwholesome talk come out of our mouths. It tells us to only use words helpful to build up others and words that may benefit those that listen. So empty talk refers to gossip, Ouch again! Empty talk refers to those words spoken in anger that may be hurtful to others. Empty talk refers to cussing and I pray that you don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. I definitely don’t want to stand there at judgement and have to answer for that. Now remember, if we earnestly repent of our sins God will forgive us. Perhaps you may need to ask God forgiveness for some of the words you have spoken. I know I tend to have to do that on a regular basis.
Ephesians 6 speaks of putting on God’s armor. It speaks of the sword of the spirit. This refers to God’s word. Recently I had a problem with the enemy working through a loved one. Satan got hold of a family member and tried his dead level best to get that family member to cause me to lose my religion and worse, damage my relationship with God. I had to hold close to the word in Ephesians 6. I used my Bible app. Instead of responding like the devil wanted me to respond, I used scripture passage. I was amazed at how quickly it disarmed my opponent. You see the devil can’t stand up to scripture. It truly is the Sword of the Spirit.
I have learned that at anytime that I may have to speak in front of people to ask God to speak through me and give me the words to say. If I encounter someone that the devil is using to anger me, I do a quick prayer asking God to speak through me or give me the words to say. I ask him to not let me lash out in anger with my mouth. You see, the Bible tells us that God never leaves us nor does He forsake us. He is with us all the time. He is with us when the mean person is spouting out a bunch of junk that they are going to have to answer for on judgement day. He is with us when someone is letting their anger get the best of them. He is with us when we have to respond to someone who is not pleasant or who may be using a degrading or condescending tone. I know He is with me and I have learned to take full advantage of His presence and use the help he offers in these situations.
So as you go through this day, listen carefully, choose your words carefully and try not to say anything that may be problematic for you on judgement day. If you feel that this is going to be difficult for you to do, then stop right now and ask God to help you as you go through the day. You will be amazed at what He can do! Have a great day!