Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. --Psa 141:3
If there was ever a Psalm that absolutely NAILS me, 143:3 is it! Of all the imperfections of mine, a loose mouth and quick tongue is my biggest and most frequent partner in getting me in trouble! Is there anyone out there who shares this space with me? If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?--Psa 130:3 Especially me O' Lord!
Never being much of an acid-tongue, my errors were with what I felt was humor. Year after year what my brain thought was funny was shared by only three other people on the planet! Often, my words would hurt or offend. Where I saw humor, others did not. My dad used to say, "never pass up the opportunity to keep you mouth shut!" Alas, I was a slow learner. In life as an adult I have been moderately successful when adhering to this adage: If you want to be seen, stand-up. If you want to be heard, speak-up. If your desire is to be respected, SHUT-UP!
Our Lord Jesus spoke to a group of Pharisees in Matthew 15:11, he said; "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." - A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends [and] there is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing.--Pro 16:28, Pro 12:18 Wisdom.....that is what has been missing!
[James, half brother of Jesus says]: But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.--Jas 3:8-10
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,- And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.--Col 3:8-9, Rev 14:5
Even SILENCE can speak!
Hello Brother in Christ. I am a Pastor from Mumbai Inda. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am also blessed and feel privielged to get connected with you as well as know you and about your interest in the "Christ Eternal Senior Ministries. It was a blessings to go through your very thoughtful blog post on "Running the mouth - Flapping the Lips". I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral minisry for last 41yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. we reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Chrit to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to MUMBAI to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have young people to come to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. We have a Face Book page titled by name "Shephered's Care Mumbai. We have not yet started putting post on it but that is our post and the name of the ministry. We also have plan to start Nursing Home for the Retired Ministers who do not have any shelter to spend their retired life. We are still on an initial stage. As the Lord provides for the ministrywe will start. It is our prayer that the Lord would allow us to start it during thir year. I will appreciate your guidance in this respect as you are already in this ministry. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you your family and friends and ministry also wishing you and your family a blessed and a Christ centered new year My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede.
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