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Hung By Our Tongue?
By Carolyn Forche`

I shall never forget an experience at my home church in Chicago. Between services, a young child stood next to her mom, who was amiably chatting with another lady. As kids are prone to do, the girl kept poking and tugging at her dress for attention. Finally, the mother excused herself for a moment and impatiently scolded, “Sweetheart, haven’t I told you about interrupting? Can’t you see that I’m talking to Sister Jones?”

Innocently, the child responded, her eyes filled with wonder, “Yes, mommy, I know . . . but I’m looking at Sister Jones and I don’t see two faces on her.”

We can only imagine what happened to that relationship!

Even women of God must ask Him to “put a watch at our mouths.” And the best watchman for our mouths, or guard-on-duty, is the Word of God. Why is this? Because we are so easily tempted to get involved in what Isaiah 58:9 calls, “the putting forth of the finger, (accusing others) and speaking vanity,” or worthless talk.

And we may as well use the term we are all familiar with—that nasty little word called “gossip.” You know, the action we so quickly deny. It’s much simpler to think of gossip as . . . “our concern about a sister or brother.” Right? But the very dialogue we often classify as concern, was responsible for a mother being busted by her child—or “caught by the tongue.”

What a challenge this can be—especially when we hear a controversial or negative report. It’s so-o-o tempting to call a friend or just whisper, “Did you hear about . . . this or that?” In fact, we will repeatedly be tested to see whether something juicy will ooze from our lips.

Isn’t it interesting how the Bible always has a Word for e-v-e-r-y-thing? It describes that rumor we just have to tell someone as “tasty trifles” or morsels. Those things that would best be unspoken are the juicy reports that are so tough to keep to ourselves.

The Book of Proverbs describes how easily we can get ‘hung by the tongue’ when our lips become a snare that deeply wounds others:

“A fool’s mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul.
The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles, And they go down into the inmost
body” (Proverbs 18:7-8 NKJV).

“ . . . But the tongue of the wise promotes health. The truthful lip shall be established
forever” (Proverbs 12:18-19 NKJV)

These scriptures compare the effects of good and bad words. While the gossiper may enjoy feeding on her own malicious words, her offensive conversation could be deeply wounding the person being discussed. The old childhood saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is NOT true. Words can indeed hurt and destroy. The Book of James says,

“Even so the tongue is a little member … And the tongue is a fire, a world of
iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. … But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:5-8).

As Christ’s ambassadors, here are three suggestions to improve the words that may exit from our lips:
• Guard your thoughts.
• Guard your spoken words.
• Speak words that inspire and reflect a Christ-like attitude, regardless of the circumstances that you may encounter.

While we are given the command to guard our tongues, only God can tame the tongue. But He does empower us to choose to do God’s will.

“For it is God working in us, making us want to do His will and
His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 The Living Bible).

For God’s Word to rule our lives and our tongues, like Job, we should ask this question: “Is there injustice on my tongue?” (Job 6:30).

The more we ask God to put a watch at our mouths, the more we will become conscious of the words we are about to speak. The more we check our hearts, the more we will want to speak words that comfort, inspire, heal and restore. “For out of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Finally, let this daily prayer prevent words slipping through our lips that may displease our heavenly Father:

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).