“The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.” (Proverbs10:11).
What would our response be if every word we spoke was displayed on one of the gigantic, HD billboards in Times Square? Do you think we would be more careful about what we said? Jesus said: “That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Matthew: 12: 36). For a man whose sins are not under the blood, that should be a scary thought. The following anonymous poem should cause us to stop and ponder our idle words:
If all that we say in a single day, with never a word left out,
Were printed each night in clear black and white,
It would be a strange reading, no doubt.
Then just suppose, ere our eyes we would doze,
We must read the whole record through.
Then wouldn’t we sigh, and wouldn’t we try a great deal less talking to do?
And I more than half think that many a kink
Would be smarter in life’s tangled thread,
If half that we say in a single day were left forever unsaid.
Our words are important, and they carry spiritual power. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs18: 21). Are our words life, or are they death? Is our mouth a well of life? Do people come to us to receive cool, refreshing words of encouragement from our well of life (our mouth), or do they avoid the bitter, pessimistic, vitriolic words that spew forth from our mouths like arrows shot from a bow? People desire to be around godly men who build them up, speak words of life into their spirits, and encourage them in the faith. Do we have that kind of reputation?
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