“There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” KJV
“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” NIV I sometimes feel like David when he wrote Psalm 57:4: “My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” This is not because of sharp words said to me necessarily, but because I hear so many wicked things said about other people. Sharp-tongued “lions” are all around us. Being a man who makes his living primarily using his tongue to speak to people, I want to be real careful that I do not “speak with a forked tongue.” I want to be careful that my words do not cut a negative swath through people’s hearts. I think that you should feel the same no matter what your occupation. Let me explain what I mean. We speak with “healing tongues" when we say positive things to people. Think about it for a minute: Don’t you like it when people say nice and kind things to you? In my preaching I try to speak positively to people. This doesn’t mean that I never say negative things. (More about this later) What it means is that I want my words to help bring healing to the hearts of the people who hear me preach. But this does not just apply to preaching; rather, it applies to all of our relationships in life. We need to be careful that we do not say hurtful words to people. All you have to do before you say a hurtful thing is to ask yourself if you would want such a thing said to you. There are some people who are so negative, and their tongues so “piercing” that we would really prefer not to be around them. We speak with healing tongues when we say negative things to people in a positive way. Are you confused by this? Well, I’m going to explain what I mean. Paul gave us some direction on this in Colossians 4:6: “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” I think that “seasoned with salt” means that we should not be mealy-mouthed when we speak to people, nor should we give false flattery. Speaking with grace, means that we want to be careful not to hurt the other person’s feelings by what we say. If your purpose is to hurt someone’s feelings, you are wrong from the outset. Let me give you an example of speech not done with grace and not seasoned with salt: “Preacher, that’s about the worst sermon I’ve ever heard.” Or you might say: “Jane where in the world did you get that tacky hat?” Now let’s see speech given with grace and seasoned by salt: “Preacher, that sermon gave me some things that I need to think about.” You didn’t say “I enjoyed the sermon,” you just told him the truth that he did say some things that you need to think about. If he didn’t, just don’t say anything. As for Jane with her “tacky” hat, you might say: “Jane it is good to see you today.” You notice that the hat was not even mentioned. The point: If what you are going to say is going to ruin someone’s day, keep your mouth shut. Jesus said both positive and negative things to people. He took the self-righteous Pharisees to task, and He let the people who were making the temple into a “den of thieves” know that He was not pleased with them. We need to remember, however, when we talk to people that we are not Jesus. But we also need to remember that sometimes we need to just tell people the truth and let the chips fall where they may. But we don’t need to do this in a nasty, judgmental way, and make it seem that we are looking down our noses at them. Even negative things that we say should be with “grace, seasoned with salt.” We just need to remember that too much salt is worse than not enough salt. Even when we are correcting people, we need to be redemptive, and not just negative or mean-spirited. I know that it is not always easy to do this, but if we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus, we will certainly be aware of the impression that we leave. If our purpose is to give “a piece of our mind,” we need to remember that we don’t have the mind to spare. If our purpose is to help keep someone from the error of their way, then we will have healed and not hurt. Keep in mind that not everyone will appreciate even speech given with grace, but you will know that you have said the right thing in the right way. My closing advice here is that if you are not sure what the motives of your heart are when you are speaking with other people; just don’t say anything – kyms (keep your mouth shut). Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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