A just-out-of-school pastor was about to conduct his first wedding and was worried sick. An elderly preacher gave him some advice, "If you lose your place or you forget what to say, start quoting scriptures until you find your place."
The wedding day came. And, sure enough, the young man forgot where he was in the ceremony. Unfortunately, the only verse he could think of was, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
If we are willing to admit it, we put our foot in our mouths from time to time. We make a mistake and wish we could take our words back. Sometimes this can be something silly or funny, but it can be painful or just downright wrong.
God desires that the things we say are in alignment with His will.
Our words have Power!
Proverbs 18:21 (CEV)
21 Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.
The things we say indicate what's in our mind and heart. Listen to the things you say; are they positive? Do they build up? Are they in alignment with scripture?
Our words give us away all the time.
James 1:26 (CEV)
26 If you think you are being religious, but can't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and everything you do is useless.
James focuses on how easily we sin with our speech. Sinful speech includes harsh and unkind words, lying, exaggeration, false teaching, slander, gossiping, hateful comments, dirty jokes, and selfish boasting.
Mature Christians keep their tongues under control by relying on the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit and by taking "captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corin. 10:5).
Because of the ease at which we sin with our tongue, James challenges every person to "be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry" (James 1:19)
Pure thoughts lead you to speak about Godly things.
So, how do we purify our mouths? We must change what we are thinking about and what we are spending our time on.
When we constantly think about negative things or watch or listen to destructive or critical things, we cannot help but have negative thoughts and feelings inside, which often turn into negative words.
To speak words of life, we must intentionally put good things in our minds and hearts and reject bad or negative things.
We should purify the words that are coming from our mouths because we want to live in the goodness and power of God!
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