Watch your mouth!

Proverbs 18:21 AMP ~ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life].

Proverbs 21:23 AMP~ He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from troubles.

The words we speak are powerful, like we’ve seen in the scriptures above, they can either bring about a manifestation of life or death. No wonder James 3 says that the tongue is the hardest to tame.

In one of my previous blogs I mentioned how my parents used to compare me with my sister and how that affected me in terms of self-esteem. As much as they meant well, their words brought about a manifestation of death in that, I was unable to see myself for who God made me to be. I ended up comparing myself with everyone else around me to a point that it almost cost me my life. Because of what I’d been subjected to at home, whatever anyone said affected me greatly even when it was just a joke-I became overly sensitive to whatever anyone said: that was the down side. The upside is, because I hated how people made me feel, I became careful of what I said to others as I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone as I’d been hurt. I remember a time people (mostly my aunts and some cousins on my dad’s side) would joke about me being physically bigger that my sisters and they’d say that I eat up all the food in the house. I’d laugh with them whenever the joke was said but alone it hurt me, even though in actual sense I was slender, just slightly bigger than my sisters (bust, hips). I hated how I looked and turned to doing intense workouts, starvation, and popping slimming pills after slimming pills. Even when I’d lost a lot of weight, I didn’t stop.

Proverbs 15:4 MSG ~ Kind words heal and help; cutting words wound and maim.

Even after moving to Dubai in 2007, I continued until one day in 2008 when the hotel I was working for referred me to a certain hospital coz I had a really bad cold. Immediately I walked into the doctors’ office, she gasped in shock and went like “my God you’re like a walking corpse!” She quickly asked me to sit down and stick out my tongue, while tagging at my eyelids. She seemed pretty upset and mumbled things in Arabic, as she checked my fingernails and took my blood pressure. I hadn’t even told her what had brought me to her office but she wrote things down and then ordered me to head to the lab. Since the cold had messed with my voice, I whispered “it’s just a cold”. She ignored me walked around her desk to where I was, took me by my hand and pulled me to my feet and said “you don’t understand, you shouldn’t be alive! Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God) you came, you have to go to the lab NOW!” After about an hour or so, the lab sent me back to the doctor with the results. The doctor had given orders that when I came back, I should not queue but the receptionist should send me straight to her. She read the results and then explained what was with all her theatrics. I was diagnosed with severe Iron deficiency anemia; my Hb count was 3 instead of between 12 and 16 and it surprised her that I was alive and walking around. We talked and she explained how I’d done this to myself with the starvation and slimming pills, backed by heavy menstrual flow each month.

From that day I was on constant blood boosters/iron tabs till March this year-God healed me yeeey! I then decided that I was never going to let what people say drive me into harming myself like that. I flushed all the pills, and decided to live one day at a time. Now, even when people make fun of my weight (having added or lost), I don’t think much about it and it doesn’t affect me. I even laugh out loud about it!

Sometimes people crack jokes at the expense of others, not knowing what they’re doing to that person. The sixth commandment states “you shall not murder”. Killing doesn’t necessarily have to be with a gun or a knife, God also meant with your words. Otherwise He wouldn’t say “death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

Jodi Picoult in her book 'Salem falls' puts it this way “Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.” 

We should be really careful of what we let out of our mouths. How do we do that? The bible tells us that what we speak comes from what we meditate on in our hearts.  

Mat 12:34 NLT …….For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.

Luke 6:45 NLT…....What you say flows from what is in your heart.

The bible goes on to tell us that we should, above all else, take care of what we let into our hearts. What we allow ourselves to meditate on/to think about. This stems from what we allow ourselves to feed on through our eyes and through our ears; the environment we allow ourselves to be in and the people we hang around; and what we do on a daily basis-our lifestyle. This is the only way to keep from speaking that which displeases the Lord.

Pro 4:23 NLT ~ Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Pro 4:23 CEV ~ Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.

Let everything you do stem from God-let Him be the center of your life-what you feed on (eyes, ears), your environment, your lifestyle!

I’m not speaking about what we say to others only, even what you say to yourself. We have sometimes said things like “I’m so stupid” after making a mistake or “I’m such a fool” etc.

The bible warns us about how we speak. Even when it is a joke, first THINK, on whether it’s necessary, whether it’s at the expense of hurting someone and about the impact you want to leave. In the end we will account for every irrelevant and hurtful word we have said.

Matt 12:36Wuest ~

Every word which men shall speak which has no legitimate work, which is inoperative and thus morally useless and unprofitable, they shall give account of at the day of judgment, for by your words you shall be justified, and by your words shall you be condemned.

And if like me, you’ve been hurt by what people have said; like I said in my first blog dubbed ‘Jesus the righteous judge’, allow God to come in and take all the wounds and hurt and heal you. He sure does give us beauty for ashes. And if you know you’ve spoken something hurtful to someone, go apologize, and ask God to help you not hurt others. Let us all choose life {Deut 30:19}, in what we think and hence, in what we say.

Speaking life is one of the secrets to living a happy life (1 Peter 3:10)

Parting shot:

Camron Wright in his book 'The rent collector' says “Words provide a voice to our deepest feelings. I tell you, words have started and stopped wars. Words have built and lost fortunes. Words have saved and taken lives. Words have won and lost great kingdoms. Even Buddha said, 'Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.” 

and God in His word says

Eph 4:29 Wuest ~ 

Every word that is rotten and unfit for use, out of your mouth let it not be proceeding,    but whatever is good, suitable for edification with respect to the need, in order that it may impart grace to the hearers

#WatchYourMouth!