A Self-Controlled Tongue

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing,”

Philippians 2:14

 

“Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,

but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.”

Proverbs 13:3

 

Why do you act so surprised?

You knew it had to come to this.

It’s impossible to look at the topic of self-control and not talk about the tongue and our words!

We have looked at ways of developing self-control which up to this point included transitioning from reacting to reflecting and transitioning from feelings to faith.

In addition to that godly counsel, we also must transition from complaining to conforming.

It is a beautiful Spring day here today but I am sure if I were to take the time and engage a few people in conversation about our weather someone would have something to complain about.

A national toy store used to have a slogan of “Turn Your Frown Upside Down!”

We need to be actively engaged in more than just turning grumbling and arguing around.

We must move from complaining to conforming with the will of God.

Our citizenship is in heaven.

How much complaining and arguing do you suppose is going on there?

Use your time on earth to learn the language of heaven!

That segues right into the next admonition which is quite similar.

We need to grow from spewing words to selecting words.

A man with no self-control spews out of emotions run amok.

A wise and self-controlled man selects his words to be beneficial to the hearer.

Jesus sometimes spoke some very pointed words but they were never spoken through a loss of self-control but rather out of truth to benefit the hearer.

True, not everyone benefitted from the words He spoke but it was because of what they chose to do with them and not because of how Jesus spoke them.

Do you spew or do you select?

Consider this; if you speak rashly, the scripture above tells us that the one who speaks comes to ruin and not the hearer.

Do you want to grow in the area of self-control?

Learn to stop complaining and start conforming.

Learn to stop spewing words and instead select those words!