Keep It Shut

I could see the blackened, charred remains of what had once been green foliage.

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45).

Truly, death and life are in the power of the tongue. The key is knowing how to use our speech properly.

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot” (Matthew 5:13).

If we can’t say something nice, we shouldn’t say anything at all

When we harden our hearts and let every little offense poke a hole in our happiness, we only hurt ourselves. We are slurping on a smoothie of poison, and we don’t even know it. But when we soften our hearts with love for others, and toughen our skins against their barbs, we are better equipped to show the compassionate love of Jesus to a watching world.

Proverbs 16:23 says, “The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent, and their lips promote instruction.” Keeping your heart pure keeps your lips in line, and not only that — it makes what you do say instructive and helpful.

when it comes to our words, motives and manners do matter.

A little more warrior. A lot less wimp.

Set a guard over my mouth, LORD;
keep watch over the door of my lips. (Psalm 141:3)