TO CHEW ON: "Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things." Proverbs 8:6
One of my favourite down-time activities is to watch reality shows on the Food Network. I love the contestants' ingenuity with food and seeing the amazing creations they come up with in limited time. But there is one thing I don't enjoy—the profanities used by many contestants. The beeper is busy and still some leak through.
These brilliant cooks may be wise about food but according to the writer of today's reading, could they be lacking in other wisdom? For wisdom here identifies herself largely by what comes out of one's mouth.
What does come out of the mouth of a wise person?
Right things, excellent things, truth, words spoken with righteousness, nothing perverse or crooked, plain understandable speech, instruction, knowledge.
The Bible speaks of speech in other places too:
- A wise person "spares his words" and is "of a calm spirit" - Proverbs 17:27.
- Jesus advises us to make simple promise which are kept - Matthew 5:37.
- Paul tells the Colossians that their speech should be "always with grace" - Colossians 4:6.
- However, James reminds us that none of us is perfect in this department - James 3:2-18.
Oops! Maybe I'd better take a closer look at myself. What is my speech like when I get upset, am under pressure, on the offensive? Always gracious and excellent? Never perverse? I know too that unwise words nurtured in my thoughts may one day spill out. Perhaps I'd better attend to my own unwise thoughts and words before I point fingers at others.
What about you?
PRAYER: Dear God, help me with my pesky tongue. Actually, help me to go one step back and root out unwise thoughts that, if allowed to grow, will produce a harvest of unwise words. Amen.
PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 150
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.
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