The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. Proverbs 8:13
When you look at your life and evaluate the things that need to change, what have you found is regularly at the top of your list? For me, my list has felt similar each time I evaluate it, until recently. My first few "need tending to" areas were consistently the same: spending more time with the Lord, making my husband and my growth a priority, and having a gentle spirit.
These are wonderful things to work on, however, I've always felt stuck! And it showed, given that these same 3 areas made the list every. single. time. Tell me I'm not alone in this?! While spending time with the Lord one morning, I landed in Proverbs 8, which is all about wisdom. Proverbs is such an important book to the Bible to study, might I add. As I made my way through the chapter verse 13 nearly jumped off the page and seared itself into my mind. "The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate." Note what it says at the end there, "I hate." God hates these things.
Wow, talk about conviction. It was an immediate onset of the Holy Spirit revealing to my heart that this is the reason my list is always the same. Year after year, eval after evaI, and change would only prevail for a short time. Now it all made sense. I realized if I'm called to love what God loves and hate what God hates then my mouth has to change too. Perverse speech has no business flying out and being spoken as if there are no consequences. I'm not just talking about "cussing". I'm talking about all. the. things. we. say. Because here's what I know to be true (we also see this in Matthew 15:18), "out of the mouth speaks the fruit of the heart", and what comes out of my mouth is a clear reflection of my heart and where I'm at in my walk with the Lord.
When I take the inventory inventory, I see a consistent thread and I hope you find your threads too:
1) During the seasons when my tongue has been most guarded, I was walking very closely with the Lord.
2) During the seasons when my marriage has been a top priority, my words were like honey and I was staying in step with the Spirit.
3) During the seasons when my spirit has been most gentle, my tongue was tamed by graciousness.
I wish I'd understood earlier that guarding my tongue, out of love for the Lord, would change my life. It makes perfect sense doesn't it? But for years, it felt like a far-off and at times, not very important change that needed to be made.
Let this be a testimony to you and an invitation to your heart, guarding your tongue will change your life. It'll change the way you live, the way you extend grace, and the way you see people. When you guard your words for the sake of building up others, it changes so much. I promise you'll see love and graciousness spilling out from the overflow of you choosing the ways of Jesus.
Pray with me:
Jesus, guard my tongue. In the moments when I feel like speaking words that will offer nothing but death, help me choose words that will speak life. In hard conversations let me not shy away from sharing truth, but instead help me choose words that stir up conviction from your Holy Spirit. Help me honor you with my words. In Jesus's name, amen.
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Chelsey is the voice behind the Living with Less Podcast and author of the 52-week devotional More of Him, Less of Me: Living a Christ-centered Life in a Me-centered World. She writes devotions for Lifeway Women's Journey Magazine, Crosswalk.com, and iBelieve.com. She also writes Bible reading plans for the YouVersion Bible App. Chelsey lives in Ohio with her husband and two children. You can connect with her on Instagram @chelseydematteis and at her website ChelseyDeMatteis.com.
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Originally published Wednesday, 13 December 2023.
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