Praiseworthy?

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9

My mom gave me some wisdom a couple years ago when we were talking about communicating with our spouses. She had watched a bible study on one of those evangelical programs and the teacher was preaching about words and how we use them. We would be wise to ask ourselves 3 questions before we speak:

Is it kind?

Is it true?

Is it necessary?

And if we cannot say yes to ALL THREE, then it's best not to speak. Thanks, Mama, for sharing that nugget of wisdom with me. It's kept my mouth closed many many times. (Sigh.) See below for an e-devotion that a friend forwarded me last year.

Every Careless Word
5/29/2007

"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak,they will give account of it in the day of judgment." MATTHEW 12:36

Jesus spoke plainly about our idle words, yet His warning often goes unheeded. Jesus said that for every idle word there will be a time of accounting in the day of judgment. We would expect Jesus to condemn profane and vile uses of the tongue, but idle words? Idle words are things we say carelessly, without concern for their impact on others. We too quickly assume that the sins of our tongue are minor sins, sins that God will overlook. Yet Jesus was fully aware of the devastating nature of our words, for the idle words that come from our mouths give a lucid picture of the condition of our heart (Matt. 15:17-20).

The Book of Proverbs encourages us to speak less rather than risk saying something offensive (Prov. 17:28). Often when we have nothing significant to say we are tempted to speak injurious, idle words. The more time we spend in idle chatter, the greater the likelihood that we will say things that are harmful. James cautioned believers to be "swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (James 1:19). We are in much less danger of saying something offensive when we are listening than when we are speaking!

Think carefully about the words that come from your mouth. We should speak only words that uplift and bring grace to others (Eph. 4:29). Do you need to speak less? Do you need to be more careful about the kind of humor you use? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you evaluate whether your words build up others or whether they destroy and hurt others.

Wow... apparently this is my focus for the week. Things keep coming to mind and I'm so encouraged to press on.