I'm writing this post mostly for me.
Words have great power. Therefore, use words carefully.
Thoughtless words are destructive weapons.
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. —Proverbs 12:18
A person's words are indicators of their heart. Evil words indicate an evil heart. Some hearts are warehouses of evil.
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
- Luke 6:45
God is adding up our words. Every careless word we speak is accounted for. Listen to Jesus, and the weightiness he attributes to the words that come out of our mouths.
But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
- Matthew 12:36-37
If a person does not have control of their mouth, their worship is good for nothing.
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
- James 1:26
Slanderous, gossiping, mocking words slither and slime forth from the kingdom of darkness.
A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
- James 3:4–6, The Message
One who claims to love Jesus, but curses people, are actors, hypocrites.
The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!
- James 3:7–10
I'm writing this on a 3X5 card and carrying it with me today.
