Your Daily Devotional for May 27, 2006

May 27, 2006 

 

What Are You Saying?

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

“Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
James 3:5, 6

 

Have you ever said something stupid or something you wish you could take back? Did it end up hurting someone else?  How can words be so devastating? God tells us over and over in the Bible that our words can be used in a positive or a negative way.  

 

In James 3, the Bible says that we can hurt others by boasting. When we boast, we are judging ourselves better than others. Proverbs 13:10 says, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” We must resist the inclination to boast about ourselves and seek to edify others. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

 

Webster’s Dictionary defines edify as “To instruct especially so as to encourage intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement.” Speaking negatively about others can be referred to as gossip. There is something about gossip that many people don’t believe is a sin. Why must the phrase, “It’s none of my business,” always be followed by the word “but”? Gossip can burn someone’s reputation. If someone has had a trial in his life, it is probably none of your business. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 says we are to mind our own business. Gossip destroys personal relationships and hurts churches. Proverbs 16:27 says, “An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.”

 

If you can’t find a way to edify someone, maybe you should just say nothing at all. Abraham Lincoln once said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.”  

 

In 1871, there was a great fire in Chicago. Over 17,500 buildings were destroyed; 300 people died; and 125,000 people were left homeless. This fire was started when a cow in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn kicked over a milk bucket which tipped over a lantern which fell into some straw. This great fire and devastation was caused by a little lantern and a little cow.  How much damage can be done because of one little sarcastic or hurtful statement (true or untrue) made about someone’s family, someone’s life, or someone’s integrity? “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!”

 

The tongue defiles the whole body. Your whole reputation or the reputation of someone else can be ruined by what this little member says. The Bible says that by the tongue someone’s whole reputation will be known. People will judge you based on the words of your mouth. They will begin to trust or not trust you based on the reputation of your tongue.

 

A friendship formed around the common theme of gossip will not last. We each hear some things that we don’t need to repeat. What you type in an e-mail will be accounted for as much as what is said with your mouth. It is from the heart that the mouth speaks.

 

Proverbs 15:28 says, “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.” The tongue, then, can be Satan’s tool for devastation or God’s tool for Godly influence. You will either be an arsonist or a fire-fighter. The choice is yours.

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