Calm your comments

This post is about a sin I have been known to fall into, on more than one occasion. Perhaps you too are guilty of spouting off at an acquaintance or a family member, sometimes without provocation. Sometimes, it’s because you demand, in a loud or cruel voice, to make your opinions heard. Sometimes I speak before thinking – making a harsh comment when a gentle one would have made the point without the animosity showing through.  

 

God’s Word says this – A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word sirs up anger. Like yesterday, this passage is again from Proverbs. For me the Book of Proverbs is such a wealth of advice, it’s hard to leave. Find this lesson in Chapter 15:1 (NKJV). While you’re there, consider reading the entire chapter.

 

The New Testament has much to say about the way we talk to one another. In the Book of James, the author devotes several verses to “Taming the tongue.” Chapter 3:8-10 (NIV) admonishes all of us to calm our comments to others, “⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth came praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 

 

Paul calls on an Old Testament passage to make a point about the waywardness of the tongue. In Romans 3:13, the Apostle of Christ quotes, in part, Psalm 5:9 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit,” and Psalm 140:3 “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” These verses are just two Paul references when writing that no one is righteous.

How about it? Are you guilty of talking before you speak? Are you guilty of voicing harsh words when kind ones would work so much better? My granddaddy always used to say – “Cheryl Ann, you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” He was so right; not that I am in the business of catching flies, but the metaphor stands as written, echoing Proverbs 15:1.

 

Why not come along with me in my journey to fully relying on God, by following his advice here and in many other biblical passages. As with yesterday’s post, this one, if you follow its advice, is bound to make you feel happier and will ultimately serve to make others feel happy as well.

 

Maybe together we can strive for a pleasant, God-fearing, Bible-adhering attitude, one person at a time, one day at a time. How about it? Are you game? I hope so.

 

A careless word may kindle strife,

A cruel word may wreck a life;

A timely word may lessen stress,

A living word may heal and bless.  – Anon.

 

To end today’s post I depart from my regular closing, borrowing an appropriate prayer from Our Daily Bread’s David McCasland – Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. AMEN!