Guard Your Speech

Guard Your Speech “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37 While I was waiting in line to get my morning coffee at Tim Horton's, there were two men arguing and using some of the worse words I have heard in many years. In our society today so many people utter careless words without thinking about the consequences of what they are saying, but in the scripture above God tells us what the consequences of our speech really means. We are confronted everywhere we look with words that would make our forefathers blush, as our television, our radios, our newspapers and magazines are filled with filth, and we have gradually accepted this kind of behavior over the years, and are even becoming more and more acceptable of this behavior even today. The Bible tells us to speak with a gentle voice, and use words that encourages and builds up our fellow man, instead of words of anger, and words that are meant to hurt and discourage someone. I believe that our speech is important to God, as it is the way that we can communicate our faith of God to others. God commands each of us to be evangelists to others around us, and our speech, and the words we use are an important way to communicate our faith. It is easy to let others know about God, and what He means to us, and many times communicating this to others can make a difference in someone else’s life. When we speak words of love and encouragement to someone, and then follow this up with our actions, we are fulfilling what God wants from each of us. As we go out into the world each day we need to be aware of our speech, so that when we stand one day before God at our judgment, we will be acquitted and God will be pleased. Robert W. Brock My Daily Devotional Volume Seven June 14