Taming the Tongue....

Psalm 120 (The Message)A Pilgrim Song ^1-2 I'm in trouble. I cry to God, desperate for an answer:
   "Deliver me from the liars, God!    They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth."
 ^3-4 Do you know what's next, can you see what's coming,  all you barefaced liars?
   Pointed arrows and burning coals   will be your reward.  ^5-7 I'm doomed to live in Meshech,
      cursed with a home in Kedar,  My whole life lived camping    among quarreling neighbors.
   I'm all for peace, but the minute    I tell them so, they go to war!  

                First let me start by saying I’m guilty of being  a liar, gossip, slanderer, and I have hurt people with my words.  Reading this Psalm this morning sparked some thoughts I would like to share.  Anyone who knows me well knows I talk A LOT!  Unless I’m thinking, upset, or tired I can talk your ears off at any given time.  With this gift of gab I also find myself often gossiping not on purpose but things slip out and then before you know it I’ve got my nose all up in someone else’s Kool-Aid.  God’s got His chisel out on me again this morning so here we go. 

We need to learn to tame our tongues!  The Psalmist here is crying out to God he has been hurt and betrayed he wants justice from those who are liars. I tell my students all the time how important it is to tell the truth.  We are still working on it but lying is NEVER good.  When you lie you compromise your credibility and you hurt those you lie to.  Lies cause war!  Um hello look at our country would you!  Tell me a war that didn’t start with a lie or “miscommunication”.   I won’t get on my political soapbox but lies are NEVER good NEVER!!!   The part that got me is they smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth….yep chisel chisel…God blessed us with the ability to communicate but we seem to abuse it. 

The tongue is so powerful in God’s word it’s compared to a double edged sword.  It’s sharp and it can do much damage to yourself and others.  So whether we lie or gossip or fly off the handle when we lose our temper in any of those things we are not bringing glory to God. I see this a lot in little kids when they get mad they say the darndest things and usually they make no sense at all, but to the person they are said to they hurt just the same.  I’m sure at some point Jesus got angry and I’m pretty sure on judgment day He isn’t going to be all daisies and butterflies.  That being said I’m sure he has never let his mouth spew out the words we do to tear others down.  You get what I’m saying!   

 I just love when people pray gossip oh you know what I’m talking about when you have this prayer request and you tell every detail about that person and situation and deep down you may want to pray for them but really you just wanted to spread that story.  Yep I’ve been there when that was done and I’ve done it myself.  STOP IT!!  If you need to pray for someone pray for them better yet pray with them.  By all means have your groups pray too but just give their name everyone doesn’t have to know the situation God already does and that’s what matters.  I’ve heard several times over the past week I need to bite my tongue I can’t take much more etc.  I’ve felt that so much myself sometimes I think I am going to bite that sucker right off.  When we learn self control and we master bridling our tongue we are so much better off.  It’s a beautiful discipline I haven’t gotten there yet. 

James 3:3-12 covers that wonderfully about controlling your mouth/tongue.  James 3:3-12 (New International Version) ³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ 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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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.  ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  ⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.  

Our mouths are the gateways to our hearts so guard them!  From the mouth comes the out pouring of the heart, so when your mouth is constantly spilling out gossip, slander, lies, and negativity etc. what does that say about your heart?  We are to have hearts like Christ he was not a liar, gossip, and slanderer.  I pray that God will continue to convict me of things and chisel away these habits I have in my life.  When I get upset I get verbal diarrhea and just crap on anyone who is within ear shot.  I’m guilty of negativity a lot lately, and gossip, and even slander.  I pray for forgiveness from God and anyone who might have been hurt by those things.  I want to control my tongue not let it control me!  I want to replace negativity with edification, gossip with real prayers, lies with truth and honesty and above all anything unwholesome with godly words.  Have a great day and remember if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all! ;0)