GET TOGETHER- Tongues of Life
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
Well today you get to read me preaching to myself. I pray that this will be beneficial to you in some way. To be honest every time that I preach, or teach the Holy Spirit always deals with me about whatever the topic, or theme of the message or lesson is about. Before I came to the Lord there were occasions when I could use some pretty foul language. It was mostly in private conversations with friends, or when I had indulged in something that was not good for me.
So, when I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1990 that was one of the first things that He did was eliminate profanity from me. As a matter of fact, I often joke that when the Lord called me to go back to college that the only reason that I could figure out that He had me to take Algebra was to make sure that my language was cleaned up before I started preaching. I hope that didn’t offend any Algebra teachers out there.
With that said there have been at least two times this week that the Holy Spirit has dealt with me about my tongue. The first one was at our son’s basketball game this week. There were a couple of times during the game that I thought that the referees might have missed a few calls. I didn’t think that my words were that loud. However, J.J. Reminds me that I am loud most all the time.
I became convicted about this because one of my prayers this year is to let everything that I do bring glory to the Lord. The Lord even convicted me that one, or all the referees could be Christians and they really needed me praying for them, more than griping about calls.
The other time had to do with something that I didn’t mean to come out the way that it did, but none the less it came out. I was trying to make a point with someone and the way that it came out it was demeaning someone else. I never want to do that because all people are important to God.
The Greek term for corrupt in this passage is sapros, sap-ros’. It means pertaining to that which is harmful, unwholesome, and corrupting. Jesus Had a different kind of tongue. That is the kind of tongue that He wants all of us as His followers to have. Jesus said in Joh 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” James had this to say about the tongue in Jas 3:8 “But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” (NKJV) That might sound hopeless, but it is not. We as humans cannot tame our tongues, but the good news is that the Holy Spirit can. Jesus spoke words that were spirit and life. The Holy Spirit will help us to do the same thing.
The Greek term for edification here is oikodome, oy-kod-om-ay’. It means to increase the strength, or potential of someone with the focus upon the process involved. Today is Valentine’s Day. Many people will be sending their spouse, their friends, children, parents and other people valentines with nice words on them. If we will submit our tongues to the Holy Spirit He will give us words that build others up rather than tearing them apart. This will be something that we can do year-round. By the way it makes me feel so much better to build someone up rather than to tear them down. So, you guys pray for me and I will pray for you that our tongues are instruments of God’s grace all the time on every occasion.
Let Us Pray
Lord we come to You today confessing that we need help in taming our tongues. We desire for our tongues to be used to bring glory to Your Name. Forgive us when they haven’t and empower us in a way so that they will.
In Jesus Name
Amen
Happy Valentine’s Day to all our many friends, and family members! We love you!
Your Friend/Kinfolk
Preston
