Hearts and Lips

6/29/2022

Written By: Margie Davis

During the recent heatwave, I was out for a run, and was struggling! The air was so heavy, and I was about to stop and just walk the last half mile. There certainly wouldn’t have been any shame in that with the heat. As I was about to do just that, another runner approached from the opposite direction. This total stranger said to me as he ran past, “Hang in there!” Those three little words encouraged me enough to finish my run!

Words. Our lives and minds are full of them. And they wield such power. An extra word said or left out can cause us to wonder if someone is mad at us, can make us angry with them, or can completely change the context of what we really meant to say.

We “wear” words as though they are a permanent label stuck to us. Words like divorced, cancerous, gay, overweight, anxious, depressed, beautiful, skinny, adulterous, poor, rich, funny, weird.

We need these types of words to communicate. They are adjectives. An adjective is “a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.” We use words to describe something or someone. But these words are not the whole story of a person.

We are not the adjective. We are the noun. We are all made in the image of God. That’s who we are. And that’s who the person you are throwing adjectives at is.

The words we use reveal what’s going on in our hearts. Harsh words come out of a harsh spirit. Luke 6:45 states it this way “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

And Jesus says in Matthew 12:34 “What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts.” Other translations say, “comes from the abundance of their hearts.”

And this is where the change in us must start. WHAT FILLS MY HEART? I find that if I am awake in the middle of the night and start scrolling on my phone, I will eventually be watching reels on FB or Instagram. And guess what words/songs are going through my head the next day?

If I fill my heart (which isn’t the organ, but truly our mind/spirit) with words I find on Web MD about my symptoms, I promise I will begin to think the worst. If I build up angry words in my heart toward my husband, they will eventually come out, and he may not even know what hit him!!

We need to change what fills our hearts. We need to learn discipline in what we say. Does something NEED to be said or does it just WANT to be said? Can we begin to look for words to build each other up instead of waiting for the next chance to attack?

How do we change what the “abundance of our hearts” is? There is truly only one way. We must hide Scripture there. Maybe you’re reading your Bible every day, and some days the words seem irrelevant to you. Store them up. Someday they will have relevance, and they will be right there in your heart!

Quit feeding the “evil man” with social media, gossipy friends, inappropriate movies and language, and instead feed the “good man” with the words of God!

Can we worship God authentically with the same tongue we are using to tear others down? “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” James 3:9-10

Could we possibly avoid conflict with our words? Scripture says YES! However, sometimes we choose the temporary satisfaction of a “won” argument over the obedience to God’s word!

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1

There have been SO many words (arguments) I have wanted to say especially these past few days. My heart has been so troubled about the meanness on social media by people who don’t share my stance on the sanctity of life. I have needed to make some choices with my words. I have chosen to be still and trust God until He gives me a nod to speak. I need to wait for HIM to give me “honeycomb” words that Proverbs 16:24 teaches me to use.

HIS words will never fail.