Do Your Words Inspire or Dishearten? Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Ephesians 4:29
WHATS IN YOUR
HEART
COMES OUT OF
YOUR
MOUTH!
TESTING FOR GOSSIP
In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
A TRIPLE FILTER
"Hold on one minute" Socrates replied, "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the
"Triple Filter Test."
"THE TRIPLE FILTER TEST, I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS!"
TRUTH
"That's right" Socrates continued, "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That is why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is TRUTH!
GOODNESS
"Have you made sure that what you are about to tell me is true?" His friend replied, "No, actually I just heard about it and..." "All right" said Socrates, "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of GOODNESS. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
USEFULNESS
"No, on the contrary." "So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, buy you're not certain it's good. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of USEFULNESS. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true, good or even useful, why tell it to me at all!?"
OUR WORDS ARE POWERFUL
I wish we could all realize how powerful our words are... before we speak them!! I have used this verse before and I believe it fits beautifully for this blog as well; Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall surely eat the fruit thereof. PROVERBS 18:21
Our words are like the eating a good meal, just like the food we eat satisfies our stomachs... so do the words we speak satisfy our mind. Our words have the power to kill or give life and we all choose them on a daily basis.
AWARENESS IS WARRANTED
We must be so aware and careful about the way we talk. Nothing foul or dirty should ever come out of our mouth. When we speak without "thinking first" it is easy to speak poisonous venom into our own hearts and to those around us!
We must be affirming when we talk about others. We need to think about the content; is it something good to speak?? Do I really even need to say it??
ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER
We need to lift one another up with our words. "Each word we speak is like a gift we are giving to each other."
Gossip has a tendency to tear people down, it almost never lifts them up! The Bible states: The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. PROVERBS 26:22 In other words GOSSIP is a dainty morsel eaten with great relish!
LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS
And may we always lift up the name of Jesus. "Jesus lives through our words..." so we need to ask; "Are our words pleasing to Him or do they break His heart?"
Finally, remember, the Holy Spirit is moving and breathing in us and He is the most intimate part of our lives. Learn to listen for what He would have us to say in any situation.
Let's not take such a gift from God for granted! If we love Jesus... than "His Love is our filter, when we speak!"
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