Walking with the Wise #164: Slow to Speak

“By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back,

but the lips of the wise will preserve them.”
—Proverbs 14:3

Words are powerful and have the potential of shaping ideas, inspiring hope, communicating love, or tearing someone down. We must learn to watch what we say, because words have the potential to do unbelievable good or serious harm.

A fool doesn’t know how to control his mouth and ends up hurting himself because of it. The wise are discerning, knowing when to speak and when to listen. James understood this principle when he wrote,

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God”—James 1:19-20.

We are to be “quick to hear” and “slow to speak," making sure that we are able to “bridle our tongue” (cf. James 1:26) as servants of Christ. If you are a Christian, then you have His Holy Spirit within you, giving you self-control (cf. Galatians 5:23), including the ability to hold your tongue when necessary.

May the Lord our God, who gave us our tongues, enable us to control them and use our words to build up, not destroy. May we speak His praises and not others' faults, and may our speech continually be “seasoned with salt,” so that we may know how to “answer each person” (cf. Colossians 4:6) who comes our way, giving them a reason for the hope that we have (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Amen.