Guarding the Tongue: Why Most of the Work Is Done on the Inside
He points out the absurdity of blessing God and cursing people made in God's image with the same mouth, and he refuses to let us pretend that that's.
Season 8, Episode 23 · Guarding the Tongue - Why Most of the Work is done on the Inside
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The story behind the idea
As you get the bridle working on the horse, you direct everything about it. If you can find a way to better manage your tongue, there's a good chance that can lead to better managing your life.
What stands out
He calls it a fire, a world of unrighteousness, a restless evil full of deadly poison. He points out the absurdity of blessing God and cursing people made in God's image with the same mouth, and he refuses to let us pretend that that's normal. Then just when you brace yourself for verse thirteen, to keep twisting the knife, he changes the subject, or so it seems.
Why it matters
It can hear a brother out, it can be corrected, it doesn't need to win the argument because it isn't in the argument for itself. Compare that with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition and what they produce, and you will see why the tongue is in such trouble. A heart organized around being right, being first, being the gatekeeper, that heart will eventually speak, and what it speaks will be poisonous, no matter how carefully it's worded.
A faithful way forward
Judge how you're approaching things, even when you're right on the nose correct on the result that it's having in your relationships. Some people reject the truth and will be very bitter and angry with you.
Put it into practice
That text says that if you lack wisdom to ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Don't think of wisdom as the right facts or the best argument. Think of it as truth, certainly, but the way you approach that truth and what your motives are and the internal spirit is just as much the wisdom you need as the words that you will speak.
Take the idea with you.
- 01What idea from this study most needs my attention right now?
- 02Where does this challenge the way I am currently thinking or living?
- 03What is one faithful step I can take this week?
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