Accounting for Every Careless Word

 We say a lot of words each day. I can't even imagine how many words we speak in an entire lifetime. I have heard it said that a man speaks about 10,000 words each day, while a woman speaks about twice that number. I don't know if that is a good average or not, I just know that we end up speaking with others about all kinds of things. The scary thing about this is that every word we speak is important to the Lord. In fact, He is keeping up with every word we say. Yes, that's right, every one. (Matthew 12:36) Then, on the day of Judgment we will give an account for every careless word we have spoken. I wonder how that is going to work out for us? We better consider that before another day goes by, if we haven't thought about that yet.

Words have meaning. Words cause people to feel, think, and do certain things. We are accountable for our influence on others, so our words play a big part in that influence. We can lead others in the right way or in the wrong way. We can build them up or tear them down. We can comfort them or make them angry. All of this comes from our words. Therefore, we should never speak careless words. We need to think before we speak every time. We need to be prayerful and ask the Lord to show us what to say, so our words have a positive impact on others. However, even more than that, we need to keep our hearts right with the Lord every morning, because our words flow out of our heart. If we have impure, sinful hearts, our words will reflect that corruption. If we have a pure heart, our words will not be mixed with evil things. That is why we will give an account of our careless words on the Judgment Day. We will be giving an account of the condition of our heart and how we either hurt people or helped people. I pray we will begin now to be ready for that day by getting a handle on our words.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Matthew 13-16.