Guide Your Mind-Guard Your Heart-Grace Your TongueНамуна

It is time for you to stick out your tongue and say, “Ahh!” Do you have it? Do you have “mouth disease”? Are you infected with an “oral bacteria” of the very worst kind? 

We are defined by the stuff that proceeds out of our voice boxes. Our words have the propensity to direct us, to define us—and to drive us. The stark reality is that, someday—in the not-too-distant future—you are going to be forced to eat the fruit of what you have chosen to say. 

When dealing with the tongue, your options are twofold: you can speak life or you can speak death. There is no middle ground between those two choices. There is no gray area when it comes to the words that you speak. That’s it. Just life or death. Which will you choose? When you understand that you have the power to speak life or death every moment of your existence, it will underscore the fact that controlling your own tongue will be one of the most vital endeavors of your life. 

The Hebrew word that is translated “death” in Proverbs 18:21 means “fatal disease or pestilence.” When you choose to spew angry words on a person, when you select to be negative and critical, or when you determine to gossip, you might as well be exposing yourself and those who are within hearing distance of your words to a highly contagious and fatal disease. 

The word “death” in Proverbs 18:21 can also mean “violence or destruc­tion.” The words that we choose to speak to another person who is made in the image of God can actually cause damage to their soul and may destroy their very future. 

What are your words doing to the people whom you love the most and know the best? Are your words infested with negative ideas and attitudes that are destined to infect those you love with mental and emotional dis­eases like insecurity, rejection, and a failure to thrive?

Personal Application: What effect do you think your words are having on the people you love the most and know the best? What effect are they having on you?