“Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled,” the Roman poet Horace observed. The importance of choosing the words we speak very carefully is recognized all over the world. For example, “Words are under your control until you speak them, but you come under their control once you have spoken them” is advice from Ali Ibn Abu Talib “Speak sweetly, so that if ever you have to eat your words they don’t taste bad,” appears on posters that encourage good behavior. Children are told, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak,” which is originally a quote from the Greek philosopher Epictetus.
Many think that being furious or under stress makes it all right to say things we know we should not. Not true. We are responsible for every word we speak, and we need to carefully consider what we say before we say it. Words prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land when he spoke inappropriately. We read in the Psalms, “It went ill for Moses because of them; for they provoked his spirit, and he spoke rashly with his lips.” Moses did not sanctify God to the Children of Israel when water was brought from the rock at Meribah. What Moses said and did on that one occasion cost him his lifetime’s dream of leading the Children of Israel into the land of promise.
Job, a man who suddenly lost his children, his property and his health, said, while covered with painful boils, “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” The Scripture then comments, “In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Job had more reason to be upset and angry than any of us has, and yet, he did not say anything wrong. We are not told if Job had any inappropriate thoughts. When he first heard the terrible news about the deaths of his precious children, the shock and sorrow of that moment could cause many to question God. Pulling them out of the rubble, hoping and praying that someone may have survived, burying them all; we don’t know the details except that, when it was all over, he was overcome with sorrow but did not sin by speaking evil of God.
If we say the wrong thing, we are responsible for it, no matter what the circumstances. Our words can do great damage and cause other men to do evil. Peter tells us about false teachers who “make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error.”
James warns about the power of our tongue. He explains, “behold we put bits in the horses mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whither so ever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth a great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind; But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”
The words we use affect our salvation. Jesus cautions us, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” We are responsible for what we say, and our words are heard even if said in secret. David tells us, “for there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo oh LORD thou knowest it altogether.” Solomon’s advice is, “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”
It is so easy to blurt out words that we later regret. To think that every idle word we speak is known by God and that we will be held accountable for each of them is a scary thought. We can be thankful that if we confess our sins the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The words of popular wisdom, “Speak only when your words are better than your silence,” is good advice, but there are times when we should speak up. We need to look out for those opportunities and choose appropriate words that would please our Heavenly Father.
Paul tells the Thessalonians to comfort the feeble minded, to support the weak and to edify one another. God taught Jesus how to comfort others, as we learn in Isaiah, “The LORD God has taught me what to say, so that I can strengthen the weary.” We need to do the same. Paul speaks about how the God of all comfort comforts us, and that he hopes that “we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God.”
We are to encourage each other by reviewing the details of the soon return of Jesus. Paul says, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
We need to share our hope of the return of Christ and the coming Kingdom of God with those we know in the world around us. The apostle Peter tells us, “Be ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope in you, with meekness and fear.” Paul tells Timothy, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
We want our conversation to reflect the godly standards of the Lord. We don’t want foul words, unkind comments, angry outbursts or any kind of dirt to come from our lips. Once we have let the wrong type of words escape we can never recall them — only regret them. May we carefully choose good words to say as we strive to serve our God acceptably. Our prayer is the prayer of David, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One