March 18, 2025

March 18    James 3

Our words matter.  What we say impacts those around us.  Words used well can build others up.  Words used poorly can quickly tear others down.  As difficult as it maybe, we need to be careful about the things we say.  Have you ever had someone say something rude or mean and they quickly try to take it back or say they didn't really mean it?  We may be gracious and forgive, but it still hurts because the words were still said.  We may say something like "I didn't mean to say that".  But is that really true?  Is it that we didn't mean to say it or that we didn't really intend for them to hear it?  
     Words come from thoughts- sometimes we do a good job of filtering those thoughts and not saying what we are truly thinking.  Sometimes we let the thoughts come out in what we say.  If we are going to control our words, we need to be careful to be sure our thinking is right and good and pure.  If we want our words to be encouraging and build others up, we need to be sure our thoughts are focused on the LORD and that our ideas flow from God's Word. This is far from easy, but if we constantly have to apologize for what we say we need to check our hearts and minds and not just our tongues.