August 27, 2016 (Proverbs 13:3)

“He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin” (Prov 13:3). This is a godly admonition which a great many of us are prone to ignore at times. It is a common inclination for a person to be careless in speech in any number of ways, and even mature believers must exercise care in this regard lest their witness to Christ should be inadvertently damaged. Because of a tendency to sin with the tongue, James exhorts everyone to “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19). The apostle also reminds us that the tongue is a restless evil which no man can tame (3:8) and we do well to not deceive ourselves in this regard lest failure to guard our lips affect our relationship not only with other people but with God. Closely related to this proverb is the exhortation of Paul to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) as it is our thought life which spills out of our lips whether we realize it or not. And in those situations where we find that we have spoken rashly (or find that another person has taken offense to our words) whether we agree or not, it is well to humbly apologize with as little delay as possible rather than allow an irritation or wounded spirit in another person to fester and become more intense with time. I have recently found myself in just such a situation where my words misrepresented the intent of my heart in terms of how they were received and thereby affected my relationship with a dear brother in Christ. It is important to seek forgiveness in such a case in order that Satan not be permitted to use apparently careless words to make a proverbial mountain out of what should have been a molehill.