I work as a customer service rep, so talking is my livelyhood. A large sticky note on my monitor has the following scripture passage: "be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" James 1:19.
I must admit I am a big mouth. Since before I could walk I am told I have been talking. Today I started to think about that passage and why we are advised to behave this way. As I meditated on this passage I realized that most mature people I know(particularly Christians) listen a lot and choose thier words vary carefully. If I ponder my words before I speak them and even just pause before I say something it really diffuses a lot of problems.
The Bible goes on to describe how much evil and damage the tounge(our speech causes)
James 3:2-18
2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.
3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt[a] water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Proverbs 18:20-21 further states:
"20 From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.
21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."
So you can see that what you say is very important in God's eyes. You could compare your tounge to a loaded gun. Any sane reasonable person would not dream of causualy pointing and firing a gun in multiple directions with no regard for the safety of others. Yet we do just that with our tounges.
James gave sage advise when he told us to be slow to speak.....
More to come....TJBear
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
This is God's will....
1 Thessalonians 5:18 was rolling around in my head tonite, it says....
"give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I looked this scripture up and realized that while this is how so many Chrisitans quote this passage there is actually more to it.
In context you need to include verses 16-18:
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
When you read this in context it says a lot more about the God's intent for this passage. God tells us to do 3 things:
1) Be joyful always
2) Pray continually
3) Give thanks in all circumstances
These threes action are stated as God's will for us. When you join this scripture with Proverbs 3:5-6:
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
You can see a pattern:
Trust in the Lord totally, dont try to figure things out, your every action should acknowledge his leadership and he will indeed guide you.
Be Joyful, pray continually and give thanks --- this is Gods will for everyone.
The actions of Proverbs lead to the actions of I Thessalonians.
When we have problems it is human nature(sin nature more like it...) to hold out and finally go to God when we are just cant work it out. God tells us to Trust him totally. Just like the child learning to swim, your instructor has you lay back in the water and totally trust he will hold you up. Gradually he releases you to float, but you had to totally trust him first. God tells to totally surrender ourselves to his care, stop trying to run our own lives. In everything we do reaffirm that trust.
The way we acknowledge God is to always be joyful. Joy is a choice. There are many people who are hurting and struggling and yet you still can see that they have an inner joy. That is because it is not their circumstances that rule there lives, they choose to lean on another source to get happiness. We can always be joyful because God is always there.
Hebrews 13:5b-6 tells us: 5bGod says "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
Sounds like a good reason to have joy to me!
We also acknowledge God by praying always. Praying always is keeping a constant line of communication open to God. Consult God about everything! No care is too small or large for God. I Peter 5:7 tells us "7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus knows what we are going through. He has been there, only difference is he found the solution, he was victorious.
Finally we acknowledge God by giving thanks. In the end if it were not for Gods mercy most of us would have been dead a long time ago. If it were not for God's love Jesus would never have gone to the cross for even the most evil person. If it were not for God's faithfulness I would have given up a long time ago.
In a nutshell that is God's will.... Be Joyful, Pray always, and Give thanks!
Trust God completely, stop trying to do things yourself. Let your whole life acknowledge him as Lord and he will guide you.
Micah 6:8
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
God with God brothers and sisters in Christ....
Grace and Peace
"give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I looked this scripture up and realized that while this is how so many Chrisitans quote this passage there is actually more to it.
In context you need to include verses 16-18:
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
When you read this in context it says a lot more about the God's intent for this passage. God tells us to do 3 things:
1) Be joyful always
2) Pray continually
3) Give thanks in all circumstances
These threes action are stated as God's will for us. When you join this scripture with Proverbs 3:5-6:
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
You can see a pattern:
Trust in the Lord totally, dont try to figure things out, your every action should acknowledge his leadership and he will indeed guide you.
Be Joyful, pray continually and give thanks --- this is Gods will for everyone.
The actions of Proverbs lead to the actions of I Thessalonians.
When we have problems it is human nature(sin nature more like it...) to hold out and finally go to God when we are just cant work it out. God tells us to Trust him totally. Just like the child learning to swim, your instructor has you lay back in the water and totally trust he will hold you up. Gradually he releases you to float, but you had to totally trust him first. God tells to totally surrender ourselves to his care, stop trying to run our own lives. In everything we do reaffirm that trust.
The way we acknowledge God is to always be joyful. Joy is a choice. There are many people who are hurting and struggling and yet you still can see that they have an inner joy. That is because it is not their circumstances that rule there lives, they choose to lean on another source to get happiness. We can always be joyful because God is always there.
Hebrews 13:5b-6 tells us: 5bGod says "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." 6So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
Sounds like a good reason to have joy to me!
We also acknowledge God by praying always. Praying always is keeping a constant line of communication open to God. Consult God about everything! No care is too small or large for God. I Peter 5:7 tells us "7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus knows what we are going through. He has been there, only difference is he found the solution, he was victorious.
Finally we acknowledge God by giving thanks. In the end if it were not for Gods mercy most of us would have been dead a long time ago. If it were not for God's love Jesus would never have gone to the cross for even the most evil person. If it were not for God's faithfulness I would have given up a long time ago.
In a nutshell that is God's will.... Be Joyful, Pray always, and Give thanks!
Trust God completely, stop trying to do things yourself. Let your whole life acknowledge him as Lord and he will guide you.
Micah 6:8
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
God with God brothers and sisters in Christ....
Grace and Peace
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