WHAT DID YOU SAY?
Many times our lives inevitably get intertwined with other people for the good or sometimes otherwise. As social beings it is absolutely impossible for us to live in isolation. As we go about our daily activities we are bound to interact at particular levels of association with our roommates, course mates, peers and others we might not have met before or even at times would never meet again. Our speech and actions are therefore very critical in these instances. A person can only be associated with integrity if he or she says what he means and mean what he says. The words we say whether we think about them or not, actually describe or portray a picture of our personality and image to those around us. The Bible talks a great deal about the tongue and how poisonous and deadly it is. In proverbs 10: 19-21, the writer makes an elaborate emphasis on the consequences of the words that comes out of the mouth of a wise man and a simple or foolish man.
When G od was creating the heaven and earth, the bible says “He spoke and it was”. God is sovereign but his word binds him. He says “I have raised my word above my name”. In the Greek and Hebrew setting, one’s name embodies the person’s whole self and personality; hence God’s word can be rephrased as “I have lifted my word above myself”. This means that God is bound by his word and hence he cannot break or dishonor it. So you see, if God the Almighty, omnipotent and omniscient himself gives such reverence and prominence to his speech, what then are we his children supposed to do?
Countless examples in the Bible have been provided to buttress this point. God would not kill all the Israelites because He had said, I will take you out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Herod could not spare the life of John the Baptist because he had promised to give whatever the dancing girl asked to her. The king of Babylon could not pardon Daniel because he had made a decree that whoever was caught praying to anyone else would be cast into the den of lions.
. The book of Jeremiah gives the perfect example of the power of the word in chapter 23:29 when it says, “
Is not my words like as a fire saith the lord; and like hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?. In James 3:6 the Bible says “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.
The verse 8 also says, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
In our own social settings, there have been coutless times that words that were spoken carelessly have brought about consequences that could have been avoided have the individuals involved taken just a little precaution with their tongue. Let us examine ourselves, how many times have we uttered words that we really did not mean to say?
In 1st peter 3: 10 the bible says, for he that will love life, and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.
In proverbs 13;3, it says, he who guards his mouth preserves his life but he who opens his lips shall have destruction. Do we love life and want to see good days, then it is about time we say what we mean and mean what we say for our God is not a God of chaos and indiscipline but of order and discipline. It is only then that we can fully embrace the call of the lord to come up higher. May God bless and have mercy on us. May he teach us to refrain our tongue from iniquity. God bless you as you set out to do His will. AMEN.
Let us meet another time.
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