Me and my big mouth....

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