THE POWER OF THE TONGUE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be silenced.

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

A wicked person listens to deceitful lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper; one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble.

Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.

The tonguehas the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.

Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.

Proverbs 10:20, 10:31, 12:18, 12:19, 15:4, 16:1, 17:4, 17:20, 17:28, 18:21, 21:6, 21:23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

NOTE: From Proverbs, Chapter 10 through Chapter 22:16, Solomon writes a series of individual proverbs for us to consider. I will try and group similar proverbs in my devotions as I cover what Solomon wrote over these chapters.

NOTE 2: My oldest daughter Stephanie has premiered her own blog titled, “Live By Philippians 4:13”. Her first post is “Lighting the Way” and I invite you to check it out and leave her encouragement as she answers the call of the Lord on her heart and follows in Dad’s footsteps which is indescribably exciting for me. Here’s the link: http://livebyphillipians413.blogspot.com/

How often do you think about your tongue?

Seriously.

I mean, typically, it’s out of sight, doing its thing as we speak, drink, and eat, we almost forget about it consciously, that is until we bite it, right? Yikes that hurts!

Yes, we usually take our tongues for granted but we shouldn’t. In fact, we should place a priority on monitoring our tongues for they can reveal a great deal about our hearts and where we stand with the Lord.

If you don’t think the tongue is important in this light, consider that Solomon wrote twelve proverbs on the matter between Chapters 10 and 22. Look again at his words:

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. Proverbs 10:20

From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be silenced. Proverbs 10:31

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18

Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment. Proverbs 12:19

The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:4

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. Proverbs 16:1

A wicked person listens to deceitful lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue. Proverbs 17:4

One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper; one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble. Proverbs 17:20

Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues. Proverbs 17:28

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare. Proverbs 21:6

Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity. Proverbs 21:23

Note here that our tongues can yield one of two products: righteousness or wickedness. One, righteousness, results in value, wisdom, healing, truth, life, discernment, protection, and blessing. The other, wickedness, brings loss, judgment, destruction, deceit, corruption, perversity, and death. Obviously, there is a lot at stake and so we should ever be conscious of how we’re using our tongues and ever strive to establish firm control over them.

So how do we do that? How do we watch our tongues?

It’s about the Lord.

You see, no one has the strength or power to control and harness the tongue. Many have tried to do it on their own. All have failed. This is because our core nature is sinful and this permeates into everything we do, including the way we use our tongues. In our imperfection, we have no hope in trying to perfectly keep our tongues in check. Our words eventually are going to fail us and, in doing so, typically harm others in the process.

This difficulty in reining in our tongues was emphasized through these words from James:

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. James 3:3-10

More than 2,000 years ago, God’s people struggled with the matter of the tongue. Nothing has changed in this present day. No one can tame the tongue and indeed we see this evident in what comes out of our mouths. In one instance we can be praising someone, in another we can be cursing. In one moment we can speak words of kindness, in another we can spew out venomous words of defamation and insult. In one moment, we can pay someone a compliment, in another we’ll slander. And in one moment we will speak in love only to turn right around and speak in hate.

Friends, we would be well served to give attention to our tongues each and every day. It should be a priority, starting with our morning prayers as we ask the Lord to help lead and guide our tongues so that everything we say will bring glory and honor to His holy and precious name. When we ask this of Him, then and only then will we realize the full power of the tongue as it consistently speaks words of righteousness that lead others to the One who will save them and lead them to eternal life.

Let us all allow the Holy Spirit to guide our tongues toward speaking about Jesus in every encounter we have through the words we speak.

Amen. 

In Christ,

Mark

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