Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”
Our Bible verse for today: “When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is wise.” Proverbs 10:19 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Sometimes the best use of the tongue is to keep it still.”
Have you ever known someone who can’t seem to stop talking? They just ramble on and on and on endlessly, often mindlessly. Not only do you find yourself having a hard time listening to them, but you wonder if they’re even listening to themselves. When I was a kid we used to refer to such a person as having a “motor-mouth”.
As annoying as a motor-mouth person can be, a worse situation is the person who uses their tongue as a weapon. Some people are simply mean with the things they say and the way in which they say them. They use their words to criticize, belittle, cut down, wound, slander, and spread gossip.
In Proverbs 10:19 Solomon warns us that excessive talking eventually leads to sin. So whether you’re the motor-mouth who just rambles on and on, or the mean-spirited person who uses the tongue as a weapon, the more you talk the more your speech is likely to turn sinful.
In the Bible, towards the end of the New Testament, James, the brother of Jesus, provided us with a great little tutorial regarding the tongue. The entire book is only five chapters long and is worth the time to study carefully, but here’s a brief summary of what James teaches regarding the words we speak:
- We should be quick to listen but slow to speak. (James 1:9)
- Anyone who cannot control his or her tongue has a spiritual problem. (1:26)
- Your words need to be backed up with deeds. (2:14-24)
- We have an inborn natural tendency to boast, and we must therefore resist it. (3:5)
- The tongue has the potential to be the source of great evil. (3:6-8)
- A Christian should not use profanity. (3:9-12)
There’s more but you get his point. In the opinion of James if you can’t control your tongue then you shouldn’t even profess to be a Christian (1:26). For one thing, you dishonor the Lord with your speech and therefore it would be much better for you to just be silent. But more to his main point in that verse, if your speech is that bad then James doubts that your professed faith is even genuine.
Back to the point that Solomon was making in Proverbs 10:19, it’s better to talk too little than too much. It has been said that we have two ears and only one mouth, therefore we should listen twice as much as we speak. And also, “Remain silent and you may be thought a fool. Open your mouth and you remove all doubt.”
Sometimes the best use of the tongue is to keep it still.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 