AN IMPORTANT REMINDER
Proverbs 18:20-21 nkj
20 A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Watch your mouth! This was something I grew up hearing from my parents. My parents were old-school. Both were born in the mid-1930s. Both experienced hard childhoods. They grew up with single mothers, which was rare in those days in the South. Both lived in tough economic conditions that bordered on poverty at times. Both aspired and worked to provide a better life for their children than they had. And both believed in discipline. The no-spank philosophy that swept into the '60s completely missed my home. Rebellion and disobedience were not tolerated, nor was disrespectful speech. It was yes ma'am and yes sir to every adult. Oh, and absolutely no backtalk. All that to say, I grew up with an acute awareness of watching my words. Wrong words could get you spanked or grounded.
My parents were on the right track, easy for me to say now, concerning words. Our verses for today are proclaiming that very thing. Our words will produce in our lives. They can produce good, or they can produce bad; the choice is ours. Our challenge is that we have not typically been made aware of the importance of our words. 'Just sayin' and 'just kidding' are part of our vocabulary. My parents disciplined me for wrong words but did not reward me for right words.
So what does it mean to speak death or life? Before Joy and I started The Ark, I was in outside sales. Many times, as I was leaving for the day, Joy would encourage me by telling me I was going to sell something today. Those were words of life. Even when I would experience a sales drought, she spoke life. Joy never walked me out the door, reminding me that if I didn't sell that day, we would be in trouble. Or express her fear that we weren't going to make it. Those words would have been discouraging. Those words would have expressed death.
When Joy was so desperately ill with acute chronic pancreatitis, things did not look good for her. But her words expressed confidence in Jesus as her healer. She spoke strength when she felt weak. To the point where people stopped asking her how she was doing. They knew she would speak health and strength. But Joy was not speaking for the benefit of others; she was speaking life concerning her own body. And she is still going strong, 33 years later!
The best way to speak life is to say what God has said in His word. Speaking in line with scriptures is speaking life. Speaking in line with scriptures may feel awkward only because we are accustomed to speaking how we feel and how things presently look. Speaking that God is helping me. That I am forgiven in Christ. That God hears me when I pray, are all congruent with scriptures and therefore have life in them. And in the event you find this type of speaking bizarre, remember we are followers of Christ, and He spoke life all the time. More like Jesus is a great goal. And a great reminder to watch your mouth!
PRAYER
Lord, reveal to me by Your Holy Spirit the areas where I am not speaking life. I purpose to put life, not death, in my mouth.