Say What?

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak”

-Matthew 12:36

Why did I say that? Have you ever asked yourself that question? If not, you may want to. It may sound like a crazy discipline to have in place, but asking yourself “why am I about to say this?” is a great discipline to have. The reason being, because Jesus cares about what we say. Every. Single. Word.

These words may not exactly tickle your ears, but they will nourish your soul. We live in a society where anyone and everyone can say anything they want, and have to deal with almost ZERO repercussions for their verbiage. Prime Example, Social Media. We can bash, encourage, praise, selfie, and smoke screen the mess out of things without truly having to take responsibility for the words or imagery we have put out there. Or so we think. People are listening and Jesus is watching.

Jesus wants us to own what we say. Better yet, He wants to own what you have to say. The Lord has given His sons and daughters, Holy Spirit. That means that every word you speak has a filtration system that can glorify God. Whether we use it or not is up to us. Our words count, and they will be taken into account. They count to God, and they count to those who have to listen to what we have to say.

I encourage you to keep what Jesus says in mind as you finish this week. This isn’t legalism, this is kingdom life. As believers, we get to walk in freedom in Jesus. Our words no longer have to be used recklessly, rather, they get to be led and stewarded by Holy Spirit. Press into Him today, and let your words count. Life and death are in the tongue, choose life. After all, He came that we would have life and life abundantly!