“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. The eyes of the Lord are on every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” Proverbs 15: 1-4

     2) Engage your mind before you engage your mouth. “The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouth of fools pour out folly (vs. 2).” The contrast that Proverbs shows is between the wise person who takes time to consider carefully their words and the impact that those words will have and the fool who gushes forth with advice before knowing the situation. Understanding the power of words, we should consider them carefully as we seek to communicate our thoughts.

     3) Remember who is listening. “The eyes of the Lord are on every place, keeping watch on the good and the evil (vs. 3).” I believe that our conversations might change for the better if we would recognize God as part of the audience in each of them. Proverbs reminds us that the omnipresent God listens to every word that is uttered on this planet. There are some I would like to retract.

     4) Choose to be constructive with your words. “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit (vs. 4).” As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, words are powerful; they are powerful enough to sustain people or to destroy people. As God chose to use His powerful words to create, heal and sustain, so God invites us to use our words by giving life to those around us.

(To be continued…)

     See you Sunday,

  Pastor Dave

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