Every Idle Word
Jesus is very specific about our speech. Words are important. In fact, we will give an account in the Judgment for every idle word we have spoken in our lives. (Matthew 12:36) That is pretty amazing! God keeps a record of every word we speak, and He is going to ask us about them when we stand before Him.
I am not trying to scare anyone, but I find this to be something that is lacking in our Christianity today. People feel like they can use all sorts of "cool" language, just as long as they don't take the Lord's name in vain. I think some of this comes from the Christian liberty beliefs of some, but we never have the liberty to sin, and the Bible is clear that our speech is to be only such as builds up the other person. (Ephesians 4:29) When I think of this, it is sobering to me. I can't imagine all of the words I have spoken that Jesus will bring up, and I will not have any good reason for using them.
I pray that we will all watch our speech, because of the power it has to influence people, both for good and for evil. It would be terrible to lead someone astray by an idle word, when a good word would have led them closer to the Lord.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 14-16.
I am not trying to scare anyone, but I find this to be something that is lacking in our Christianity today. People feel like they can use all sorts of "cool" language, just as long as they don't take the Lord's name in vain. I think some of this comes from the Christian liberty beliefs of some, but we never have the liberty to sin, and the Bible is clear that our speech is to be only such as builds up the other person. (Ephesians 4:29) When I think of this, it is sobering to me. I can't imagine all of the words I have spoken that Jesus will bring up, and I will not have any good reason for using them.
I pray that we will all watch our speech, because of the power it has to influence people, both for good and for evil. It would be terrible to lead someone astray by an idle word, when a good word would have led them closer to the Lord.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 14-16.