“Watch your words and hold your tongue; you’ll save yourself a lot of grief”
Proverbs 21:23
We’ve all met a gasbag at one time or another: a person who talks nonstop about everything. They travel over their words so often that they forget where they’ve been. They talk so much that eventually they find themselves caught in their own words. It brings them a lot of grief.
Today’s verse reminds us to watch our words. This means that we should guard, protect and hedge them about. We should count our words as precious and powerful. The Bible says they’re exactly that so let’s treat them right.
Not only are we told to watch our words but we’re also meant to hold our tongue. After all it’s hard to speak words if we can’t use our tongue. It’s worth considering what James chapter one says, “You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak…” When we follow this, we save ourselves a lot of grief, distress and trouble.
This week let’s slow things down a little with our words. Instead of using them to fill the silences of life let’s think and be selective in what we speak. Let’s be like the writer of James; being quick to listen & slow to speak. This will save us from grief and ensure that our thinking, decisions and planning are so much clearer and steadier. When that happens, our future becomes so much surer.