What Kind of Book Are You Writing?

My devotional today was pretty powerful and very convicting! It was about the words we say and use to others. I never realized how powerful the tongue can be...it's almost scary what it can do. In my devotional, Mary Southerland says this,

"God gives us "spiritual radar" so we can assess a situation and speak the right word for that circumstance, but how often do we speak before we check the radar?

A judge utters a few words and a guilty man is taken to death row.

A friend speaks a word of encouragement and a desperate heart finds hope.

A mother lashes out with angry words and the light in her child's eyes is gone.

A wife offers a word of forgiveness and a marriage is saved.

A gossip makes a phone call and a reputation is destroyed.

A teenager says "no" and changes the course of her life."

Those were just some of the positive or negative effects of how we choose to use our tongue. I know I struggle with what I say to others, especially in the form of gossip! Each of us have something inside of us that makes us feel we "need" to gossip but the Bible says specifically that it is a sin

Proverbs 1:29-32

"They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them"

These statistics were given, "It has been estimated that most people speak enough words in one week to fill a large book of 500 pages which, in the average lifetime, would amount to somewhere around 3000 volumes or 1,500,000 pages" That is insane!!! That each and every person could write a book that big with just the words they speak! Shouldn't that motivate us to be speak with kind and uplifting words? Who would want to look in their book after their life and see all these mean and derogatory remarks to others? That would shame us and we would certainly be embarrassed if God read that book to everyone--so why do we talk like that to and about others?

The Bible says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40, KJV). Now if nothing else said convicted you then this one should! God says that when we speak or do wrong to others we're really also doing it Him! That alone should make you "think before you speak" and even before you do! Words are like seeds. What we plant will grow. The words we speak are powerful and will either build up or destroy. Words can diffuse anger and turn tragedy into triumph. The right word, spoken at the right time and in the right way can bring peace in the midst of confusion. What kind of book are you writing today with your words?