Taming The Tongue
Taming the tongue means putting a guard over your mouth and ensuring that what comes out is in line with God’s Word and His own heart and the good fruits of the Holy Spirit. Taming tongue is the using our not against any one to arouse trouble or problem.
When we speak, it’s important to choose the words that will lift up and bring joy and life and hope. Your words can either be rooted in fear and anger or in peace, faith and love; they are dictated by your perspective on life and everything around you – and therefore they reflect your heart. (Luke 6:45).
Taming your tongue means not giving in to idle words, expressions of anger or fits of rage. The tongue of the wise speaks with love, carefulness and kindness.
If the overflow of the heart is love, then love and gracious words will pour forth. If the overflow of the heart is anger and haughtiness, then anger and great boasts is what will come forth. We brag, we spew negative words, we partake in gossip because we see ourselves as better than others.
The tongue has always had the power to heal and also to hurt and harm, but today’s world makes it so much more dangerous than in the past. In the past, words both spoken and written were limited in scope. Today, words spoken in anger can be recorded and replayed over and over again.
The written word is splashed all over the internet on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and is there for the world to see and is like Pandora’s box and can’t be put back. Threats can lead to more than hurt feelings; they can lead to businesses failing and to international incidents. People can feel disrespected, or bullied. Children have committed suicide after being bullied over the internet.
Cowards, unwilling to bully face to face, use this to make fun of others and draw others into the game. One person who feels insulted insults someone else who quite possibly resorts to violence in response and then the other person retaliates and so it goes until there could be all out gang wars.
One person in a car thinks someone has cut him off and so yells insults at the other driver, who may then respond by doing damage to the other car or to the driver. All this damage because of an untamed tongue! It’s too bad because the tongue can be used to do so much good.
The right words can heal a hurting heart, soothe a crying child, tell someone you love them, and be used to praise and worship God. Let’s make the right choice in how we use our own tongues.
