Proverbs 13:3 – He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.
Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 18:21 – Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Colossians 4:6 – Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
When we look at language there are a lot of things that come to mind: how we should talk, when we should talk, where we should talk and when to jump in, and, if we decide to talk, will it be with proper language or will we allow anger to take over? Does our language have a peace to it or does it ring with frustration? If we talk, will it be with the truth of God even if it is a difficult truth or do we try to please people with the way we speak? If we talk is it with idle words or is it words of truth?
2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof (rebuke), for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
There are many other questions that come up. Language is a very important part of life for a child of God, and we must observe our language every day to make sure that we stay within the parameters of what God has revealed in His Word to be the Truth and how we should speak it.
I am not saying that this will be easy, but if we call ourselves Christians, then we should examine our words and make sure they represent Christ. Proverbs 13:3 says that he that keeps his mouth, keeps his life. What this is saying is that we should watch our mouth and not speak how we want, but think about our words before we speak.
When we speak we need to make sure that we speak the truth of God without wavering and stand firm to it. This will keep our life. The passage above also relates to the passage of Proverbs 18:21: it tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Our words are able to bring life to someone, including ourselves, or can bring death to others and ourselves.
The passage of Proverbs 13:3 also has a second part to it; it says, ‘them that open wide their lips shall have destruction.’ This is someone that is consistently opening their mouth, talking without thinking or examining their words; I am sure we all have met someone like this. Ones that don’t filter their mouths – whatever they think will come out, without thinking of others, even if they don’t say the truth about the other person. Someone that is hasty and rash with their words – this is someone that is dangerous to be around and this is also someone that we as Christians should try to not be like.
Colossians 3:8 – But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Ephesians 5:4 – Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
As children of God, we also need to make sure we understand that our words (mouth) do not show anger or wrath when we speak. In our daily life, there are many things that can happen that can create anger in our day and we can not allow this to affect the way we speak. We may hear a lie, some gossip, we may have someone that is pushing our buttons, or even encounter some road rage. There are times someone does something that may go against what you told them to do or not to do and this also can incur anger.
All of this can make you angry, with your words you can be irate towards others in your language and this can create a mouth that is full of anger towards someone. Being angry can create a situation so that you do not watch your tongue. This allows access to filthiness and foolishness and jokes. There are times you hear the term, “just joking,” but the’ joking’ you just heard seemed for real. It had some truth to it, but, at the same time, that person was trying to reveal something with jealousy, hatred, and malice towards someone else and usually it’s put as a joke when they really didn’t mean it to be a joke – they were just covering themselves after they said something mean.
We must become observant of what we do and make sure we examine every single word that comes out of our mouths. As Ephesians 5 says, ‘but rather giving thanks for everything.’ Romans 8:28, tells us that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purpose. This means that no matter what comes our way or what happens, we must be thankful for what is going on. For all things will work together for patience, love, joy, longsuffering, understanding, and many other good things in our lives that we need to learn and that God is trying to teach us in our lives as Christians.
Exodus 20:7 – Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Exodus 20:7a – thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
You can follow this link which will take you to this specific topic and what it means, to make sure we do not fall into this area of speaking against the Lord and taking His name in vain.
Ten Commandments
Matthew 12: 34,36 – O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
1 Timothy 4:12 – Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Proverbs 26:28 – a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it: and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
In the same way that people say, “just joking,” they also say “just kidding”, and sometimes you may even fall into it yourself. There are times that we allow anger, jealousy, or even hatred towards a person to influence the way we speak to that person, sometimes even speaking evil. Then after we speak that evil, we tell others that we were just joking or kidding around.
The truth is that the Word of God teaches us that what we speak comes from the abundance of the heart. This indicates that even the jokes we tell come from the heart. When you hear these jokes that people use against others, realize that even though they say they were joking it was still real and still something that they really wanted to say. Throwing in “just joking,” at the end does not make it not real, and on top of this, it can offend someone or make those people feel ashamed or embarrassed. In Matthew 12, it tells us that every idle word that we speak, any word that is useless, we shall be kept accountable for and we shall be judged for them. We must make sure the words that are spoken from our mouths are good.
In 1 Timothy 4:12, it tells us that we as believers should be an example to all in charity, in spirit, and in purity and also in our words and in our conversations with others. This means that everything we do and say, the words that come forth, should be in line with what a believer representing Jesus Christ should be like, as we are His ambassadors. We represent Him.
We should not have a lying tongue of hate towards the people we do not like, as it says in Proverbs 26:28, and it continues in saying that a flattering mouth also works ruins. We must observe what comes out of our mouth. We must be watchful of what we speak and examine ourselves every single day to make sure we are in our faith as the Word of God tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5.
2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
This is something we must realize – a child of God should have words that represent, and be, what the passage above is talking about. I would like to first say that just because you are a child of God, it does not mean that what you say can’t hurt, because it can. The Word of God teaches us that God’s words will cut soul and spirit. This means it will hurt and we can see this even with how Jesus sometimes spoke in the Bible.
God’s words, as Scripture says, are good for teaching when we speak and we represent Christ, so we should speak as Christ did. One way He spoke was in teaching/instructing others and this is what we should do as well. Another way of speaking was in reproof which means with conviction/rebuke – it is used to convict us or rebuke through the Word, for us to realize where we are wrong. If our brother or sister is doing something wrong, we should not make jokes and tell others about it, but we should speak to them directly and teach and reproof them according to the Word of God and try to win them over.
This is to correct what is wrong and to instruct in righteousness. Let me tell you, just because you are a Christian does not mean that your words will always be joyful and full of laughter and sweetness – there are times that what we speak will be hard and it will cut, for when someone gets rebuked through the Word of God, it is difficult. When someone comes to correct us, to help us become righteous according to the Word of God, it can hurt, it can be heavy and tough. But our words need to speak life, we must speak according to what is right in front of God.
I encourage you all to start researching and looking into the Word of God and start reading more about how we should be. There are more passages than this, but this is to start you off.
Conclusion:
I know that in today’s generation we do not get enough discipline in this. The language of this generation is taught so that almost anything can go and we can speak our minds and all is good. But according to the Word of God, this is wrong; in the Bible, we see that we need to discipline our tongue and the words that come off of it because life and death are in the tongue. The Word of God tells us to watch our tongue and to be hasty in it. It teaches us that we need to examine ourselves and make sure that what we speak is correct and right. For it is written that all we speak, and any idle words, we will be kept accountable for and that we shall be judged for them.
It is time for us, that call ourselves CHRISTIANS, to start examing ourselves so that we speak according to the Word of God and not according to this world. We need to realize that just because everyone else is doing it or saying it is not right. We must observe the Word and realize that just because you see others from the church do something that it does not make it right.
Let’s stand up, children of God, and become the light that God has called us to be – ones that speak the truth, ones that do not waiver, ones that listen to the Word of God and never back down because someone else is doing something, or our family/friends is doing something else. But real children of God stay firm and hold fast to what the Word of God tells us to do.
If you have realized your words have not been according to the Word of God, go into a prayer of repentance for what you have done and said, and come to God. Ask God to allow the Holy Spirit to start transforming you into being more like Christ, and give you the strength to move forward and to be able to deny yourself and to truly be that light. Go and start learning and understanding the way the Word of God is meant to guide your speech and conversations.
God Bless you all!