I’m going to share a story with you that I heard somewhere. A vacuum cleaner salesman was given an area to sell his wares. His area was a rural country town but unfortunately, he was going from farmhouse to farmhouse without success. Frustrated and concerned at his lack of sales, he briskly knocked on the door of a farmhouse where he was met by a farmer’s wife. Without permission, he pushed past her into the kitchen and said, ‘I am selling vacuum cleaners.’ She protested at his pushy way, but he insisted on showing her his products. With a great deal of overconfidence, he pulled out of his bag a bucket of mud and threw it on the floor proclaiming, ‘If that vacuum cleaner doesn’t pick up all that dirt, then I’ll eat it!’ She looked at him and said, ‘Well, you better get busy eating, mister. ‘Cause we ain’t got no electricity.’ The salesman hastily made a promise that he could not keep!
The Bible is full of good advice and warnings. If people read the Bible and practice its deeper teachings, the world would not be in such a state of despair. The Bible tells us, ‘Guard your tongue against speaking evil,’ (Psalm 34:13). After thought comes expression and so often we rush to conclusions drawn from gossip and/or the media, or our emotions. When we do this, it can lead to verbal conflict. Simply put, you may be getting into trouble because you may be feelings-led and not logic-led and when we live a life of feelings, then words are spoken out of turn and there is plenty of trouble on offer from satan. ‘Talk too much and you are done for,’ (Proverbs 13:3).
In Matthew 15:11 Jesus said, ‘”…it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”’
How often do we regret what we say? Jesus said that one day we will all give an account for every single word that we speak (Matthew 12:36). God will ultimately hold us to account for the words that we speak that make us unclean.
Do not use harmful words but only helpful words - the kind the build up and provide what is needed, doing only good to those who hear you. Make the Holy Spirit rejoice with you in your life and in all that you do.
Do we need to ask God for forgiveness for any words that you may have said in anger?