Heart and Tongue

You might think you are a very religious person. But if your tongue is out of control, you are fooling yourself. Your careless talk makes your offerings to God worthless. James 1:26

Giving thanks and speaking bad words come from the same mouth. My Christian brothers, this is not right! James 3:10

A good man will speak good things because of the good in him. A bad man will speak bad things because of the sin in him. Matthew 12:35

“Many a slip twixt tongue and lip” goes the old saying, and we all know how true it is! During WW2 the folks on the home front were warned by posters which said “Careless talk costs lives”. These old sayings refer to the physical, but what about the verses which refer to the Spiritual? Our faith is important and we are warned to keep our heart pure so that by the time our thoughts get to our lips they are always good and never a stumbling block.

It’s what is in the heart that matters. If we harbour wrong thoughts, we will speak wrong words. If we have a hard heart, we will speak harsh words. If our hearts are unmoveable, we will never be able to speak fellowship. It comes down to this, we cannot speak our words in love, if our heart sees love as a weakness to be avoided, and especially if we always like to be right.

It is possible to get so good at quoting Bible verses, that we lose the much needed love to speak those Scriptures. I would suggest they are then being misused, and abused. The Bible is not a book to be used as a tool to beat up the unsaved. The Bible is a love letter from the heart of our Abba Father, loving God, and should be used as such. James the half brother of Jesus put it this way:

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:13-18