Our Words IMPACT Others

I enjoy college basketball at this time of the year.  I enjoy watching my favorite teams.  I may even venture an opinion about who will win from time to time.  But if I were to say that the Butler Bulldogs from Indiana WILL win the NCAA tournament this year and if it turned out to be wrong it really would not matter that much.  Those words do not have a lot of importance.  If I said that I was NOT allergic to penicillin when the opposite is true then those words could have rather serious consequences.   The words we say do matter.  The older that I have gotten the more aware I have become that my words have meaning and impact on others.  Especially the things that I say about God.  Those are the most important words that I speak.  I am also more conscious of the fact that my Words flow from my thoughts.  They come right out of what is going on inside my heart and head. So let’s take a look at these verse together.

[God said this to Job’s three friends after they had spoken many wrong things about God]

 Job 42:7 (NET) ...My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.

God is VERY interested in what people say about Him.  It would appear that one way to get God mad at you very quickly is to say wrong and incorrect things to others about Him.  That is something He clearly does not like.

Where do our words come from? 

 

Matthew 12:34 (NAS) For the mouth speaks out of that which FILLS the heart.

 Jesus said that we speak out of the fullness of our hearts.  Or put another way the things that overflow from our thoughts and minds come out in our words.  That is why when we are angry, stressed out, or depressed, if we dwell on those things our words will reflect what is going on in our hearts. 

How can we Learn to Speak what is right and good especially about God?

 

Psalm 40:8 (NET) I want to do what pleases you, my God. Your law dominates my thoughts.”

 Psalm 40:8 (NLT)I take joy in doing your will...for your instructions are written on my heart.

 Psalm 37:31 (NET) The law of their God controls their thinking; their feet do not slip.

 What is it that DOMINATES our thoughts?  The news?  The pressures of family or work?  Problems with our parents, kids, or spouse?  Psalm 40:8 sais that the writer wanted to please God and for that reason God’s Law, dominated his thoughts.  Because he wanted to DO God’s will he wanted God’s word to be WRITTEN on his heart.  So if we want to do what God wants us to do, including speaking accurately about Him, then His WORD must Dominate our thinking.  It should be the starting and ending point.  God’s Word is the place we must return to in order to check the accuracy of our thinking, words, and actions.  Now in Psalm 37 the writer says that if God’s Word  CONTROLS their thinking they will NOT SLIP.  The wording is slightly different but the same truth comes through.  If we want to keep from stumbling and falling in our walk with the Lord Jesus, His WORD will have to CONTROL our Thinking.  How does that happen?  Only by being in the Word of God as much as we can.  We should be reading it, memorizing it, listening to teaching about it, studying it, seeking to think about what it says (meditating) and Most of all living it out in our lives every day.

PRAYER:  Lord God please keep me IN YOUR WORD - may it Dominate and Control my thinking.  May I surrender to You and What Your Word says and live in daily obedience to it.