peggywritesblog

Let Your Heart Speak

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matthew 12:34b ESV

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Proverbs 13:3 ESV

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20 ESV

Let your words be as beautiful and shining as the sunlight on the icy tree branches.

How many people do you think you speak to in a day, a week? If you are working, it could be a lot! Now I want you to think about what you say and how you say it. We have all probably made a snarky, unkind, or flippant comment to someone at some time, I know I have.

In Matthew, Jesus tells us that we speak out of the abundance of our heart. Ouch, that kind of hits home! So, what I really need to work on is my heart… Am I sharing love and kindness, generosity and helpfulness, caring and comfort? Or have I allowed my heart to become “hardened” to the situations of others? Have I allowed my speech to be more hurtful than helpful?

Our second verse from Proverbs gives us a bit of wisdom on speaking. Those who watch what they say are wise, but those that talk all the time (I tend to take this as gossip) will eventually come to ruin. I think my mom paraphrased it as: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.”

And our last verse is one of my favorites. James tells it like it is; I think I would have liked him. James tells us to be quick to listen to what others say but be slow in responding. And slow to be angry at what someone might have said to us. Before we speak let’s search our hearts and let compassion and kindness, healing and comfort, and love flow. 

This week let’s all do a heart check in order to make sure that the words we speak to others are encouraging, helpful, and loving.

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me this week as we let our hearts speak to those around us.

Blessings and overflowing hearts!

A Few Quotes on Speaking to Others:

“Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.” Dionysius of Halicarnassus

“A wise man speaks because he has something to say; a fool speaks because he has to say something.” Plato

“The words you speak become the house you live in.” Rumi

“You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart.” John Ford

7 comments

  1. Such an important message, especially in today’s world where there is so much hate and so little compassion. It’s tough sometimes to bite our tongues when someone says something that hurts or offends us. I think it’s important to stand up for ourselves, but we should do it in such a way that de-escalates the situation rather than allow our emotions to take over. It’s not always possible, I suppose, as we’re flawed humans, but it should be our goal. What leaves our mouths cannot be unsaid, and words can do immeasurable damage.

    Your wisdom shines in this post, Peggy (as always). May you have a happy rest of the week, my friend. 😊

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  2. Over the years, I have been committed to softening my speech. It’s difficult to just “let if be” for most things, but the holy spirit will guide us through all situations if we allow it to do so.
    This is an inspired piece, Peggy. Thank you for sharing. 🧡🧡

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  3. Sound biblical principles and points. Whenever teaching Bible Study, no matter the lesson it always goes back to the condition of the heart. Thank you so much for the reminder—The way things are today we must really be mindful of how we speak to others. Have a blessed week.

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