Text: James 3.10-12.
Ice break: “for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12.34). What do you think about this phrase? Do you find yourself saying things that you didn’t want to do?
N. T. Wright writes in his book “After you believe” a story of a man that wants to make a point to his friend that was short temper. So, when they were helping to serve people in a party, he gave a tray with glasses full of drinks. Every glass was full to the brim.
When they were serving the guests, he did bump into his friend on purpose spilling the liquid on the tray. When his friend looked at him, he could explain that we only spill out what we are full off[1].
There are three central truths that we need to observe in this area:
1) You will spill out what you are full off.
I know that we tend to make excuses; at least I know I do. But the reality is that we will spill what is there. The situation may increase the strength or make it more explosive, but if it weren’t there in the first place would never come out.
The problem is that people spend more time trying to control what comes out than concerned with what is inside.
It is not my intention to make anyone feel bad, but we need to recognise what is inside of us. We wouldn’t leave a rotten potato in a bag with good potatoes, would we? That is because if we don’t recognise and remove it, that will spread to the other potatoes and the whole lot will be lost. (that can also be applied to picanha
).
We need to stop making excuses. It is time to face it and ask God to help us to change. How many marriages, friendships, families, career, jobs, ministries end because of rotten words and poisoned words that people speak. Sometimes people will regret it for the rest of their lives.
2) Be careful with what you put inside.
The recognition is the first step, but if we don’t stop new wrong stuff inside of us, we will continue to spill the wrong things.
We need to stop the cycle! It is hard to have a healthy life if we only eat fast-food, fish and chips and fat meat. In the same way, it is impossible to have good things coming out of our mouth when we feed our souls with ‘bad’ stuff all the time. I am not asking anyone to stop watching TV or listening to music, in the same way, that no one asks someone with a bad diet to stop eating altogether. But let’s make healthy choices with our lives.
It is tough to listen to God when we spend 10-hour watching trash TV programs + 4 hours of music that doesn’t have anything useful on it! So, let’s read and listen to what is good, to what will nourish our souls.
3) Remember that your words are seeds
I remember growing up in Brazil hearing the phrase “words are powerful”. Even in a context that was not religious, that phrase kept me thinking.
The truth is that every word that we say is a seed, and every seed will try to produce fruit. People forget this principle when they are complaining about their lives, shouting at someone or just making a comment about passing the time.
Remember that we will have to be accountable for everything we say (Matthew 12.36), and that because your words call things into existence.
Conclusion: It is time to think and reflect on our lives. God is inviting us to recognise what is inside of us and to ask Him to help us to have a different attitude from now on. Let’s be blessed, and let’s bless.
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