Friday's Devotional

All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them.

~Proverbs 8:8(nkjv)

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Can this be said of you? Is this a godly characteristic that you have abtained? As Christians, we are commanded to be godly in all areas of our lives. And one of the most important is in our ruling of the tongue. The book of Proverbs as well as the book of James speak a lot on the subject of the tongue-how hateful, unruly, damaging, and un-Christlike it can be. If we're Christians, that means we've been sanctified and redeemed. The word sanctified literally means to "be set apart". We're to be drastically different from the world, and one of the most important areas where this difference must be evident, is in our speech. The world should be able to look at us and know without a shadow of a doubt that we are His.

This verse says that everything we say is to be righteous. We must not allow anything crooked or perverse to come out of our mouths. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." Every single thing we say should bring glory, honor and praise to our Lord. The words we say ought to be a wonderful example of what a Christian truly is. Our words should show that we are in this world but not of this world! Our witness and example for Christ is hugely important, and if we go around speaking as the world does, we will tarnish and destroy that good witness. If we speak as the world does, that will send off the message that all that Christianity stuff is nonsense. The world, by our bad example, will begin thinking that God couldn't possibly have any power to change people, for we "Christians" are just like the world. That's why it's so important that we do not allow any crooked or perverse thing to come from our mouths.

Not only is the words you say so important, but how you say them is of equal importance as well. We can go around saying pure and upright things, rather than crooked and perverse ones, but if we don't speak in a loving, kind, Christ-like, charitable way to all people whether enemy or friend, then our witness for Christ will be just as tarnished as it would be if we were perverse in our speech. We must make it a habit to speak always, to everyone, in a kind manner. We must put that meek, gentle and quiet spirit into practice, ladies!

As the book of James tells us, guarding the tongue is so difficult. But it's something that must be done. And, ladies, we're not alone! The Lord desires for us to be pure and holy in all areas of our lives. Go to Him and ask Him heartily for help! He will give us all the assistance and help we need to guard the tongue, so that we can truly say "All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them."