February 2nd

Weighing What We Say

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1

How many times have you said something like, Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. That was not the right thing to say. Saying that actually made things so much worse. I was an idiot for saying that.

Have you ever felt that way before?

Or you’re like this, Why did I hit send? Can I unwind that? Can I rewind? Can I delete hitting send? I shouldn’t have hit send so quickly.

Do we fully consider the weight of our words? Do we weigh what we say? Honestly, you know what? I think oftentimes we say before we weigh, but it should be the reverse, right?

You know what? Instead of saying it and then weighing it, what would be much better would be to weigh it before we say it-really considering the weight of our words.

And I think weight certainly could be spelled both ways. There is a weight that comes attached to the words that flow out of your mouth. But maybe what we need to do is wait before we speak, to just wait on the Lord and pray over what our lips end up pronouncing.

Granted, we’ve all said things that we regret, okay? In fact, our verses today come from a letter in the Bible written to repair some broken relationships that existed between the Apostle Paul and the church in Corinth. And that rift in the relationship took place because of some wrong words that were used.

Let me just give you the formula on this deal: Wrong words that flow from wrong intentions are always going to result in a wrong outcome.

And that’s happened. It’s happened to you and me and Paul and Corinth. That’s why Paul writes.

Yet here’s the good news: Right words-in fact, we’ll quote a great verse here-Words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in settings of silver (Proverbs 25:11).

This is a really cool deal. It’s what can happen when we choose the right words. Right words that flow from the right intentions will always produce the right outcome. It will get what’s broken back on track. It will fix it.

If you’ve used some wrong words, it’s not too late. Weigh what you say and use some right words so that what has been broken can begin being fixed.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for helping me to understand how powerful my words are! Now please cleanse my heart and help me to weigh what I say, to speak words fitly spoken, so that my words always produce the right outcomes.

Amen