Guard What's Coming Out..
Had a chat with my mum in law this morning over breakfast. She was telling me about her friend's daughter's boyfriend who threatened to kill her if she does not come out of the house to meet him and even went so far as to slap the girl simply because she kept repeating something he didn't want to hear. What has the world come to?
Put the slapping aside, I just want to say that the things we say are so very important. Because what we say represents what's in our hearts. How often have we said the wrong things, but we give excuses that we don't really mean what we say? The truth is, we do. It's just that we are not aware of it ourselves.
I remember I had a big problem with guarding my tongue and my speech when I was young. I was always getting into trouble every single week because of certain things I said or the inappropriateness of my tone and speech. It got to a point when I feared even talking because I am not sure when I will blabber out something that should not be said.
I could not keep secrets. The moment I hear something, I will tell it to somebody else. Maybe it's got to do with adolescence insecurity when I felt that the only power I had in my hands was exclusive information that only I knew. And telling it to someone else gave me the 'ego boost' I was searching for. How very silly of me. I remembered feeling very lousy about myself because I had the reputation that I could not be trusted and I was not someone who had the maturity to hold my tongue.
Of course I eventually grew out of that phase. After many hard knocks, scoldings and reprimanding, that is. On hindsight, I knew that God had to deal with me in that area because He knew that one day I am to become a CGL and leaders especially need to be sanctified in this area.
The truth is, our speech does reflect who we are inside of us. The difference between the fool & the wise lies in only one spoken sentence. Do we rattle off just anything that comes to our minds, whether or not it's appropriate to be said? Or do we consider every single word we speak carefully? That measures our maturity.
The bible says that we are held accountable for every single word we speak and every thought that goes through our minds. You can deny all you want, but the fact of the matter is that we cannot say out something that is not in us. If we are always grumbling, it's likely that we have a problem with contentment and thankfulness towards God. If we are always putting ourselves down in speech, we have problems with self esteem and self acceptance. If we are always pessimistic & critical in our speech, it's probably because we have bitterness in our hearts that are not dealt with. So, what's in the things you say?
If you can listen to yourself talk for one whole day as a third party, what impression would you have of yourself? Would you want yourself as a friend? :)
Had a chat with my mum in law this morning over breakfast. She was telling me about her friend's daughter's boyfriend who threatened to kill her if she does not come out of the house to meet him and even went so far as to slap the girl simply because she kept repeating something he didn't want to hear. What has the world come to?
Put the slapping aside, I just want to say that the things we say are so very important. Because what we say represents what's in our hearts. How often have we said the wrong things, but we give excuses that we don't really mean what we say? The truth is, we do. It's just that we are not aware of it ourselves.
I remember I had a big problem with guarding my tongue and my speech when I was young. I was always getting into trouble every single week because of certain things I said or the inappropriateness of my tone and speech. It got to a point when I feared even talking because I am not sure when I will blabber out something that should not be said.
I could not keep secrets. The moment I hear something, I will tell it to somebody else. Maybe it's got to do with adolescence insecurity when I felt that the only power I had in my hands was exclusive information that only I knew. And telling it to someone else gave me the 'ego boost' I was searching for. How very silly of me. I remembered feeling very lousy about myself because I had the reputation that I could not be trusted and I was not someone who had the maturity to hold my tongue.
Of course I eventually grew out of that phase. After many hard knocks, scoldings and reprimanding, that is. On hindsight, I knew that God had to deal with me in that area because He knew that one day I am to become a CGL and leaders especially need to be sanctified in this area.
The truth is, our speech does reflect who we are inside of us. The difference between the fool & the wise lies in only one spoken sentence. Do we rattle off just anything that comes to our minds, whether or not it's appropriate to be said? Or do we consider every single word we speak carefully? That measures our maturity.
The bible says that we are held accountable for every single word we speak and every thought that goes through our minds. You can deny all you want, but the fact of the matter is that we cannot say out something that is not in us. If we are always grumbling, it's likely that we have a problem with contentment and thankfulness towards God. If we are always putting ourselves down in speech, we have problems with self esteem and self acceptance. If we are always pessimistic & critical in our speech, it's probably because we have bitterness in our hearts that are not dealt with. So, what's in the things you say?
If you can listen to yourself talk for one whole day as a third party, what impression would you have of yourself? Would you want yourself as a friend? :)
Comments
my heart really goes out to that girl who has to go through all that. I mean.. no one should go through such "trash".