….my sword must stay clean…. a comment written by a dear friend of mine on Facebook. I must say when I read this something in me began to stir in me. Now, I have on many level “known” that the tongue can cause a lot of damage. The word talks so much about it..you would think that would be one of the first lessons we would master. When my friend commented, I thought, how many of us literally use our tongue to cut those we say love? Or strangers? what about people we don’t necessarily like? Think about it? How many times have recklessly wielded the sharpest tool in out arsenal and just sliced through people because we can’t ….no wait…we WON’T take control of our tongues.
Our tongue definitely is a weapon. The word talks to much about how a fool is reckless with it and it will be his ruin (Proverbs 18:7). It talks about the rebellious and godless man and how he has no control over his tongue and uses it for evil….and I know what your thinking…I’m none of those…and I am sure you are not. I will say however, when I read these scriptures I had to really think…Have I done this?…If I’m honest…I’m pretty sure I have:
Ephesians 5:4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. FOOLISH TALK! CRUDE JOKING!! Yeah…. and Col. 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Put them ALL away…not some…ALL! This mean your mouth should not shoot off when you become angry or hurt by someone. In these times is when we tend to draw our tongue sword and began to wound and slice people up without so much as a hesitation. OR when someone we love has been hurt by another person….we make mince meat out of them with our dicing words. This is where Proverbs 18:21 comes to life..The tongue has the power of life and death.
We must be protective of our weapons. We must cover our sword with the spirit, which is the Word of God and begin using our tongues in spiritual warfare and not allow it to recklessly wounding to others. This goes right along with my “throwing stones” post…Choose wisely the words you use, for you will either being carefully and intentionally swinging your sword with grace, beauty, and control or you could find yourself with someones blood on your sword.