The Bible says:
“The wise woman builds her house,
but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” Proverbs 14:1
If you ask me, the one and best way a wife can build her house, I will say, by her tongue.
The thing is we wives usually focus on keeping our house neat and clean forgetting the fact that clean house won’t give us a happy home but our kind, sensitive, compassionate, merciful and thoughtful tongues. That means, yes, we should keep our house neat and clean but above all, we have to strive to use our tongues to build our home.
Regarding the power of tongue, let’s be mindful of the following five important points:
- Though small, our tongue has power to destroy our lives
The Bible says:
“Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” James 3:5-6
Did you hear that?
Our tongue can corrupt our whole body, setting our whole course of life on fire. My! This is serious. Knowing this, we cannot afford to be reckless with our tongues.
By protecting what comes out of our mouth, we protect our soul/life
Just by protecting what comes out of our mouth, we literally protect our whole life, including our marriages. Just imagine that!
The Bible says?
“Those who guard their mouths and their tongues
keep themselves from calamity.” Proverbs 21:23
And listen to this:
“The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21
Our tongue has the power of both life and death. Those who love “life” will eat “life’s” fruit, or the opposite will be true.
That is why the Psalmist prayed like this:
“Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3
What an awesome prayer for the one who loves life!
- Our mouth speaks what our heart is full of
Our mouth cannot speak by its own authority. It is just flesh and blood. It has no brain of its own. So, it is just a “pipe” of the source, i.e. our brain/heart. Whatever is stored in our heart, that is what comes out of our mouth.
“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Matthew 12:34b
That means, we cannot label people as kind people while they speak unkind things because from the abundance of a kind heart, a mouth speaks kind things.
- What defiles us is not what others say to us but by what we say
That means, what defiles us is the filthy words that come of our own mouth, not the mouth of others. This is a very important truth to make note of.
When Jesus’ disciples ate without washing their hands, the people complained saying that Jesus’ disciples were defiled but Jesus said to them:
“What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them. . . “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” Matthew 15:11, 17-20
- What comes out of our mouth– gives our true testimony
What comes out of our mouth shows who we worship, what controls our lives. Listen to what James says:
“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” James 1:26
Wow!
This is very convicting! Is it not?
Our religion, our faith in Christ Jesus, our confession is worthless unless we show it through keeping a tight rein on our tongues.
- What comes out of our mouth forecasts what is to come, in the future
Wow! This is big!
Think about it! Our tongue can forecast our future. Just imagine!
The Bible says:
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and their lips from deceitful speech.
They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it.” 1 Peter 3:10-11
He is asking, “Who would love life and see good days?”
It is a question. Let’s say, I raised my hand. Then the questioner tells me the way to get my wishes: “Well, first of all, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. And second of all, turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.”
Hmm!
Did you hear that?
Keeping our tongues from evil is the first stage before we even try to do good so we see good days in the future.
So, in short, this is what the message is for today:
“Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 23:4
Everything our mouth speaks comes from our heart. That means we need to guard our hearts and the best way to guard our hearts is through guarding our eyes and ears, which are the windows of our hearts, from evil and perverse things. ///