The Power of the Tongue

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

- Ephesians 4:29

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!  I don't know about you, but when I read verses like this one, well, it just plain hurts me.  No, I don't have severe potty mouth disease, nor do I go around cussing all day long.  It's just that I'm human and sometimes my mouth seems to have a mind of its own.  Oh, I want to keep unwholesome talk from coming out of my mouth, but sometimes...

I do take comfort in the fact that the Scriptures talk a lot about the mouth and the apparent trouble people have been having with theirs since Adam and Eve got booted from the Garden.  Here are a few of my favorites:

I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” - Psalm 39:1

The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. - Proverbs 15:4

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” - Isaiah 6:5

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. 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. 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. - James 3:4-6

Yikes!  The tongue is set on fire by hell?  Well, doesn't that make you feel better?  James goes on to say that no man can tame the tongue, which does, in an odd sort of way bring me some encouragement.  The passage from Isaiah is also encouraging for me in that even though Isaiah was a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips God used him in a mighty way.  And further in this passage, after Isaiah confesses that he is unclean (sinful) God cleanses him just as He will cleanse us through the Messiah if we confess our sin to Him.

I must say that I've come a very long way with my speaking habits over the years, but I still have a long way to go.  God's Word not only convicts us of our improper, sinful behavior, but it also brings us encouragement so that we can move forward.  In that way our words can indeed bring benefit to others and be a tree of life rather than crush someone's spirit.  What an awesome God we serve!

Living in the Rearview Mirror

"Stop dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
I am doing something new;
it's springing up - can't you see it?
I am making a road in the desert,
rivers in the wasteland."

- Isaiah 43:18-19

Do you know someone who seems to be stuck in the past?  I'm sure you know someone who's there.  Perhaps their high school years were the best of their lives and they are constantly reliving them.  Maybe there was a long-lost love who just won't leave their memory.  Maybe there was a traumatic event that happened that now has them trapped in the trauma and the past or maybe someone wronged them with the same results.  So, do you know someone who fits this description?  Could it even be you?

I've seen it happen to too many people - events of the past (most often very painful events) have taken over their way of thinking which then takes over and effects every area of their lives.  They seem to dwell, or live, in those past events.  This incessant focus on the past then seems to nurture it as they brood over the events as a mother hen would brood over, care for, and nurture her chicks.  It's not a healthy way to live for anyone involved.  As I said, I've seen it happen to many people, including myself.

Over the past five years I have been recovering from a serious stress disorder.  It had gone on for most of my life without being recognized for what it was.  Because of the length that it ran it caused some physical problems including neurological damage.  One aspect of my disorder was that I was stuck in trauma.  My thoughts often rehashed events that happened decades ago.  This focus, this dwelling and brooding, fed the cycle in which I seemed to be trapped. Then I came across these verses and they got me thinking.

I knew that in Romans 12:2 Paul says that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  My mind sure did need some renewing!  Coupled with these verses in Isaiah I felt that I had a big piece of the puzzle that I needed to continue in my healing process.  God was doing a new thing for me.  He was bringing order and direction (making a road in the desert) and bringing life (rivers in the wasteland).  But in order for me to continue in this healing and see these new things that God was doing I needed to stop dwelling in the past.  It's sort of like this...

How far do you suppose you'd get if you tried driving a car forward but you were looking only in the rearview mirror.  If you were on a straight road with no pedestrians or other cars you might make it a little way.  But what if you were on a busy, winding road with countless distraction and hazards.  I think most of us would slam on the brakes and just sit there for fear of what might happen.  We would be unable to make any progress or move forward at all because we would only be able to see what had happened and not what was in front of us.  That's no way to drive.  That's no way to live.

God's Word gives us hope and direction.  Let Him help you stop living in the rearview mirror and start living in the freedom of the here and now.