WATCH YOUR TONGUE!

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In Christ, Mark

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

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

James 1:26

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

How many times have you said something that you later regretted?

I think we all have made this mistake in the past as it’s so easy to do.

This is why we saw an earlier exhortation from this first chapter of James that commanded Christians to be “slow to speak” because once words are out, they’re out. There is no bringing them back and those words, in certain circumstances, can damage people and relationships to a place of no return.

Maybe you can relate, having been hurt and scarred by things spoken by another in your life. Often times, these verbal assaults aren’t accidental but rather delivered with intent like firing bullets out of as gun at another.

Now while the world might simply brush this kind of behavior away, possibly even accepting it instead of condemning, the Lord would call His followers to exercise restraint and conscientiousness before words are said. In fact, He wants us to allow the Holy Spirit to do the talking, driving what we say as much as He dictates how we think and behave. For frankly this is the only hope that any Christian has regarding talking in right and righteous ways to others.

There’s too much at stake to do otherwise, right?

For consider how much damage a person could do to the Christian faith if they chose to speak in sinful ways. The consequences are detailed in our scripture passage today as James writes:

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 1:26

Many a professed Christian have allowed their tongues to speak unchecked and not only damaged their own reputation but that of their Christian religion.

Consider the ever increasing number of false teachers, self affirming pastors who are misleading believers by misrepresenting the entire Word of God. For only preaching prosperity while remaining silent on the matter of damnation, judgment, and Hell for anyone who fails to place their belief in Jesus is only telling people what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.

And then there are Christians who allow the matter of politics and cultural matters to drive them to verbally attacking others who believe differently than they do. In fact, I have seen proclaimed Christians communicate in ways that make them look no different than the world they live in and that’s not what Jesus has called us to do. Rather, He has called us to follow His lead and be in the world but not of it...to dare to be different.

Of as God commanded, be holy (read...set apart) as He is holy.

Friends, the Lord is speaking to us today from His word with firm direction. Essentially, He is calling us to watch our tongues and refrain from speaking in ways that could discredit Him or the Christian way. If we keep our focus on Him in every manner, to include the way we talk, we achieve this and ensure that every word we say is approved by Him and in accordance with His will because He would have given the words to us.

Let us pray.

Lord, please help us to be disciplined in the way we talk to others. We submit our tongues to you and ask that you will guide and dictate our words so that they will work to bless others and honor You. For we love You and place our fullest trust in Your ability to do all things as we pray in your precious and holy name. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.