"Said"

He said, she said, we all have heard,

The back and forth talking, and word after word,

Of people who argue, with nary a break,

Their speech is so hateful, no give and all take.

And what they are doing, is killing, you see,

Their words are like weapons, that destroy you and me,

The bitter, the poison, the ugly, insane,

The language destroying, unwise and inane.

The words they are using, they have no more blush,

They’re crude and they’re vulgar, and done in a rush,

Talk that your mama, would not tolerate,

Profane and obscene, there’s no way to rate,

How fast that she’d wash out your mouth with her soap,

And Dad’s old belt leather, with that you would cope.

And Lord only help you if they heard you repeat,

Some of the language that you should delete.

So cussin’ may hold for some people we see,

In movies, online and also TV,

But not for believers in the Good Lord who said,

Your words will bring judgment right after you’re dead.

And that what you say are seeds that you plant,

For lifestyle or deathstyle, and how strong you rant.

From inside your heart, the words of your mouth,

Will abundantly show what your life is about.

Don’t think it won’t matter, ‘cause we will account,

For all that we’ve spoken, no less the amount,

Of gossip or lies or false witness, complaints,

Whether with loose lips or the Spirit’s constraints.

Did we confess Jesus with that word of belief,

Declare His lordship and share His relief.

Offer Him praises, the fruit of our lips,

Deal with words spoken, our tongue come to grips,

With what God has told us, so clear in His book,

The tongue is a fire, so please take a look,

‘Cause what we are saying, and what we believe,

Will point folks to Jesus and a new life receive,

Or turn them away from the Lord and His grace,

So watch what you’re sayin’, and seek the Lord’s face.

Let the redeemed of the Lord show it and tell,

So others can find Him and not go to hell.

“Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For is we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.” (James 3:2, NLT)

This is a very powerful statement! If we could control what we say two things would result. We would be perfect and we could control all our other behavior. Let’s unpack this for a minute. First, the whole notion ob being perfect is beside the point, right? Jesus was the only perfect man, so what bother? But this misses the point. The more our words are surrendered to God the more like Jesus we become. Second, the notion that self-control springs from tongue-control plays out in many ways. What we habitually say reflects both what’s happening in our heart and sets the course for what we do. What if God took over our tongues? Everything would change!

Lord, take control of our words, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Bill Anton, billantonstudios.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Bill, and God bless you.