Ours was a church-going family. We did not stay home, except when sick. (I must confess feigning illness on occasion, but my parents could detect malingering with amazing accuracy.) Every Sunday and without fail, our pastor preceded his sermon with this plea from the psalms: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” 1 Looking back, I still appreciate our pastor’s mindful submission to God’s ultimate authority before speaking on His behalf. Even now I petition the same from time to time; his influence resounds yet today. For our words penetrate deeply, far more than we can imagine, into the souls of those we encounter every day, be they strangers or those we hold dear. Therein lies a divine gift for us all, a ministry of life — the daily privilege to bless others through our speech. Consider the amazing impacts we can have all around us through . . .
Words that strengthen others. Paul, for instance, wrote to the Corinthians in “the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.”2
Words that nourish. “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”3
Words that heal. “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”4
Words of encouragement. “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”5
Words that transform. Wrote Paul to the early church, “We will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ.”6
Words that speak life. Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.7
Jesus taught us, “What you say flows from what is in your heart.”8 And the apostle James exhorts us: “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”9 How worshipful it is when we incline our hearts to God and our tongues follow! How powerful when our hearts overflow in praise through our words. Words that strengthen. Words that nourish. Words that heal. Words that encourage. Words that transform. Words that speak life!
Can you imagine the Kingdom impact? The world awaits you — you and the blessing of your words.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Amen.
1 Psalms 19:14 RSV
2 2 Corinthians 13:10 NIV
3 Proverbs 16:24 ESV
4 Proverbs 12:18 NIV
5 Ephesians 4:29 NLT
6 Ephesians 4:14-15 NLT
7 Proverbs 15:4 NLT
8 Luke 6:45 NLT
9 James 3:9-10 NIV
Tag: The tongue series
Categories
The Reckless Arrows in the Quiver
In his book, Above the Line, former Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer shared leadership insights that helped guide the team — both on and off the field — through their 2014 national championship season. He recalled an incident in which a player learned his girlfriend was cheating on him. “They had an extremely heated argument . . . He could tell that he was on the brink of losing control . . . He was close to doing something terrible that could change the course of his life, and it was at that exact point that he pressed pause and called his position coach . . . The coach talked to him . . . and helped him step back from the torrent of emotions and get his mind right.”1
“Press pause,” think of it as a disciplined response — and a form of self-leadership — that helps one avoid regrettable reactions and choose reasonable responses instead. The young man in this scenario teetered precariously on the brink of physical violence, but the temptation to rash speech brings us to “press pause” crisis points, as well, and indeed more often. King Solomon observed, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.”2 We can also think of “press pause” as the wisdom to stop, think, and manage our emotions, instead of letting them master us. In so doing, we will find that the circumstances which might have led to internal suffering through verbal sniping can lead us in the way of blessing, instead. Again, from Solomon: “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”3 Isn’t this ultimately how we want to live our lives — as meaningful vessels for good?
Then how do we step back and get our mind right? First, consider Jesus’ liberating love for you. You are completely and forever forgiven and redeemed through His proactive love. Then when the “torrent of emotions” begins to swell up against another, look safely inside. For Jesus teaches us, “What you say flows from what is in your heart.”4 When we press pause and honestly examine our own fleshy motivations — retaliation and belittlement, for instance — those we might otherwise disparage emerge now as companions in need of grace, and rash words of harm can give way to wise words of healing.
“I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle . . . ”5 — King David
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”6 In Christ I pray. Amen.
1 Urban Meyer. Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Season. (Penguin Press, 2015), 49-50. (Emphasis added.)
2 Proverbs 10:19 ESV
3 Proverbs 12:18 ESV
4 Luke 6:45 NLT
5 Psalm 39:1 ESV
6 Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
Categories
The Deadliest Arrow in the Quiver
A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow. — Proverbs 25:18 ESV
In last week’s post, we began to expose the untamed tongue with an intent to bring it to heel. For we have all brandished piercing words as slashing swords, even against those we would sacrificially protect. There are, as well, the sharp utterances of others, arrows piercing our own hearts despite the sentries we stationed around them. Some words target deception, and some corruption; there are others. But today let’s look at the deadliest arrow in the quiver, the one aimed at reputation.
The reformer Martin Luther observed the logic in which God’s commandment not to steal naturally flows into His next commandment —not to “bear false witness against your neighbor.”1 Wrote the reformer, “God wishes the reputation, good name, and upright character of our neighbor to be taken away or diminished as little as his money and possessions, that every one may stand in his integrity. . .”2 In “Othello,” William Shakespeare parallels Luther’s conviction:
“He that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.”3
We are our brother’s keeper, so how do we refrain from bending the bow toward his reputation? I offer no formula, just thoughts for consideration.
Pause first. “Be . . . slow to speak and slow to become angry.”4
Consider the damage. “The tongue has the power of life and death.”5 How will you use yours?
Empathize. Remember when someone harmed your reputation. What was the fallout? How did you feel?
Examine the heart. Do you really want to deprive for a lifetime the dignity and reputation of another?
Remember. “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.”6
Then from where comes the power to control the tongue? It comes from within — the discarding of the old self and the donning of the new. “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”7 We live in Christ, and His Spirit lives in us. We need not be controlled by our flesh anymore. We have choices. Speak truth in love.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” — James 3:9-10 NIV
Father, “Hide me from [those who] sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows,”8 and disincline my own heart from doing the same. In Christ I pray. Amen.
1 Exodus 20:16 ESV
2 Luther, Martin. “The Large Catechism.”
3 Shakespeare, William. “Othello,” in The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, edited by Stanly Wells and Gary Taylor, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), Act 3, Scene 3, lines 164-166.
4 James 1:19 NIV
5 Proverbs 18:21 NIV
6 Proverbs 19:9 ESV
7 Colossians 3:9-10 ESV
8 Psalm 64:2-3 ESV
Paul Nordman—Author 