Bridle My Tongue!

It can be such a strong temptation to say things about our personal faith that makes us ‘look’ like more than we really are.

• Telling friends that we pray for them every day.
• Saying that we seek God’s leading for every decision.
• Implying that we are trusting The Lord to meet every need.
• Telling friends about things that we’ve done for The Kingdom, though we’ve really not done anything.
• When we present ourselves to others as holy, when our minds are nowhere near that.
• When we yell and scream in a worship service in praise to God, not truly, but because we desire that others see our holy selves.

It can be such a strong temptation to say things about others that leave us ‘above’ them.

• Speaking a condemning word about people when they suffer a weakness of any kind.
• Criticizing people when they fail.
• Belittling and pulling away from people whose issues show openly.

We like to appear religious to people, but a person’s speech reveals the true self! AND though self deceived, God is not deceived! Religious is not a bad word … it means a person that is devout, doctrinal, holy, moral. A Christ follower that is truly religious not only believes, but their speech and action will match that belief!

We use the excuse of our weak flesh to discount the things that we say that mislead people or even drive them away from The Truth. We must be careful not to place too high of a virtue on the rituals of church attendance and service in a local body. We must be careful not to place too high of virtue on any practices, such as fasting – because we must endeavor to BE true Christ followers.

When we open our mouths and untruths flow from them, we have to know for certain that rituals cannot cover our words. Our words may make us fool ourselves, forgetting what we’ve seen in the mirror, and people too may be deceived with thinking that we are pious, or even worse, thinking that our bad behavior is to be mimicked or sanctioned. But God sees the heart … the true heart

“Bridle my tongue, let my words edify. Let the words of my mouth be acceptable in Thy site. Take charge of my thoughts both day and night. Order my steps in Your Word” – Glenn Burleigh

Father, place within us a desire to match our actions with what we claim to believe! Bridle our tongues so that our words will edify You. Use our words for Your glory. Teach us to speak truths ALWAYS in love. May our words bring live and not death! Amen