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HE Psalmist David prayed, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, 0 LORD, my strength, and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14). This is a prayer all of us should be praying. Why? Well, Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks... Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment... by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:34, 36-37). Solomon wrote, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver' (Proverbs 25:11). Paul wrote, "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man" (Colossians 4:6). Yet, here in James 3 we see that controlling our speech is the most difficult (and important) task that we could ever undertake (James 3:2 & 8).
As believers, we are capable of saying the most glorious things, yet we are still able to use our mouths in the most despicable and abominable of ways as well (James 3:9-10). This is evidence of the spiritual struggle that rages within the mind of every saint. On the one hand we each possess the strongest of self-serving perspectives (James 3:14-16). Yet the Spirit of God within us counters those thoughts constantly with "wisdom that is from above," which is, "pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17). Speech is a product of thought. It is our responsibility then to root out the thoughts that contradict God's wisdom.
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