“Son, you need to think before you speak!” Those are words that were burned into my mind by my dad as a teenager. Most of us, if not all of us, have at one time or another said something we wish we could erase from existence. The foolish, and often painful, things we’ve said have left permanent scars on hearts and minds of the unfortunate recipients of our explosive emotional meltdowns. However, if the unpleasant truth be told, we can never “unspeak” words that have been spoken. We may have felt justified in the heat of the moment, be it anger, bitterness, envy, frustration, maybe even physical pain. Yet our personal justifications will never erase the pain that has been inflicted upon others and the destructive consequences that will come back upon us as the result of the words we have used. Our words matter! Solomon wrote, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.” (Proverbs 13:3) So, the next time we feel like we want to let our feelings and opinions flow freely from the mouth or keyboard, and before letting our issues be known to the world, we might want to stop and think before we speak. Will this bless or hurt? Am I building up or destroy others? Just a thought. Because, our words matter! Let me put it like this if you think that maybe you should not say anything then don’t. Pretty simple, right? Paul says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29)
Guard Your Mouth
