Christian Discipleship Course 34.

Question and answer: “I don’t speak proper, does it matter?”

Well it depends in what context. Pronunciation and accent are no problem with God. But He is interested in what we say. It’s no good throwing a wobbly, and shouting obscene, cruel or unkind words - that’s ungodly.

Matthew 12:34 ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks’

Jesus was kind towards people, but on occasions He rebuked them in righteous anger, but He never sinned. God speaks to us in love, and sometimes the truth does hurt Matthew 23:13-39.

Wisdom: Often it is not what we say, but how we say it that counts.

Negative tongues: Backbiting, deceitful, double, false, lying, muttering, perverse; sharpened as a means to sin and a source of trouble.

Positive tongues: Gentle, just, witnessing, speaking well, righteousness, wisdom, singing praises and thanksgiving, wise, edifying and new.

Our eyes are the windows of our soul, and we need to be careful what we see; and also what we hear, (Matthew 6:22-23, 5:27-28).

Often we have a pretend conversation in our mind when somebody has upset us, and we think about things we could say to hurt them in return. Our mind becomes a battleground! These ideas drop down into the heart, and stay there until we see, think or talk about that person, and it makes us very angry Matthew 15:11, 17-20.

Fact: We don’t like people to gossip or speak badly about us, so don’t gossip or speak badly about other people Ecclesiastes 7:21-22, Luke 6:31.

The saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me,” is simply not true. We have hurt others with our words and we have been hurt ourselves.

Forgiveness is the key that will unlock the pain; it is a choice and not a feeling. You choose to forgive. If you have hurt someone with your words, you need to ask God to forgive you, and you may need to go and speak to the person and apologise.

Think: Engage your brain and think before you speak, or you could cause a nasty stink! Do I need to apologise to someone?

More Info: Proverbs 10:19, 12:8, 13:3, 15:4, 17:9, 19:11, Jeremiah 17:9, Mt 5:23-24, 6:14,15, 18:15-22, John 15:3, Ephesians 4, James 3:1-12, 1 Peter 4:11.