Psalm 141:3 (NIV)
Set
a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
Proverbs 10:19 (NLT)
Too
much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and
keep your mouth shut.
James 1:19 (NIV)
Everyone
should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
Four steps will help tame faulty uses of your
tongue:
1.
Ask God
for help (Psalm 141:3 above)
2.
Ask
others for help (James 5:16)
3.
Speak
well of others (Ephesians 4:29)
4.
Speak
less (James 1:19, Proverbs 10:19 above)
Perhaps the easiest of these to practice is to speak
less. Having lost most of my hearing I
have learned that I really don’t miss that much from all the talking during a
day because so much talk is really forgettable.
For the rest of this devotional, rather than me writing anything
further, I choose to use great quotes from wise people about the importance of
being quick to hear and speaking less.
Take all of these to heart that supplement what the Scriptures above are
advocating:
· “The trouble with talking too fast is you may say
something you haven't thought of yet.” --Ann Landers
· “Half the world is composed of people who have
something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep
on saying it.” --Robert Frost
· “There are two types who say very little: the quiet
type and the gabby type.” –Unknown
· “Wise men talk because they have something to say;
fools, because they have to say something.” -– Plato
· “After all is said and done, more is said than done.”
--Unknown
· “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” –-Will Rogers
· “Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact
that sometimes he has to eat them.”-- Adlai Stevenson
· “The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does
that profit anyone?” -- Ecclesiastes 6:11
What do you need to do, if
anything, to help you gain better control of the use of your tongue and to
minimize or eliminate the faults that you have with what you say or how much
you talk?
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