What We Say Really Does Matter
PART 2 OF 2 — Is it a sin to talk too much? After reading verses from Proverbs that address the issue, it might seem easier to just stop talking all together! That would be too easy. Taming our tongue is difficult. The right response is the discipline of self-discipline. It is the application of wisdom in the restraint of the most powerful part of our body. The tongue. And what we say really does matter.
What are the dangers of talking to much? Here is the remainder of what I feel might help answer that question?
“Gossip involves saying behind a person’s back what you would never say to his or her face. Flattery means saying to a person’s face what you would never say behind his or her back.” Author Kent Hughes
Excessive Talk May Lead To Flattery
“A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet” (Proverbs 29:5).
The harlot seduces her prey by means of flattery (Proverbs 2:16-18, 6:24, 7:21)
Beware of those who give excessive, untrue, or insincere praise.
Excessive Talk Is Often Idle Talk
“In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.” (Proverbs 14:23)
“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” Matthew 12:36
The accounting we shall give at the Judgment Seat of Christ is a powerful deterrent to careless speech if we are mindful of it.
Excessive Talk May Give Birth To Profanity
“With [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father. We curse men, made in the likeness of God, with the tongue we have received from the Lord. From the same mouth come both blessing and cursing.” (James 3:9, 10a)
“My brethren, these things ought not to be this way” (James 3:10)
“It is inconsistent for a fountain to send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water, or a fig tree to produce olives” (James 3:11, 12)
“Therefore, our new–creature–status in Christ should be reflected by the abandonment of profane talk (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Excessive Talk Usually Destroys
“Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell” (James 3:5-6)
Taming our tongue is extremely difficult, but not impossible. As we practice love and exercise discipline in the restraint of our tongue, the Holy Spirit will produce the fruit of self-control (Galatians 5:23). As we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we will become more and more like the perfect (complete, mature) man who does not stumble in word (James 3:2). Let us pray we become more like that man.
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