SHH!
God has called us to walk in every good and perfect gift from above, or increase. We’ve said the sinner’s prayer. We go to church. We give our tithes. We give offering. We read our bible. We attend bible study. We share our faith. We love others. Then the pastor uses James 1:17 in his sermon. Explaining that these aren’t just gifts that we are used to. These are PERFECT gifts from Heaven.
What else exactly are we supposed to do to receive these good and perfect gifts from Heaven? A couple verses down we read:
“.. Be quick to listen, be slow to speak and slow to anger..”
Ouch. Those perfect gifts seem a little further don’t they?
When your children have deliberately disobeyed you, when you and your spouse have problems, when your coworker intentionally disrespects you in front your boss, you begin to speak and as soon as the words are coming out your mouth you know you should not have said it. We’ve all been there.
The bible clearly states that life and death are in the tongue and that we will give account for every idle word that comes from our mouth. That alone should be enough to make us step back and think about what it is we are about to say. So since we are human and we know that this is so much harder than it sounds, what are we to do?
It is important to remember that God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. If we are made in His image and His words created, then so do ours. We must be careful in what it is we create with these words of ours. Maybe what we don’t say is more important than what we do say. God is always to the point, nothing more and nothing less.
A great place to start is to ask yourself, “What is God saying?”
Then say that.