For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. Matthew 12:34b NLT

Those who control their tongue will have a long life; opening your mouth can ruin everything. Proverbs 13:3 NLT

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must be all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 1:19-20 NLT

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 examine 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