I was catching up on three day's worth of Bible reading. I am on a Bible in a Year schedule and had gotten off track. I was amazed as I read how many different references there were to the tongue. Seems the Lord is trying to teach me the importance of this lately.
The verses prior to the ones referenced above also say this:
Proverbs 4:20 ¶ My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
We are to keep wisdom, godly wisdom specifically, foremost in our thoughts and hearts. We are to be diligent about keeping our hearts focused on those things.
As I continued my Bible reading, I came to Psalm 12:3:
The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
Our lips are not our own. They are owned by God, our creator. We are to be good stewards of what comes out of them and how we use them. Jesus tells us in Matthew 15 that it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles us, but what comes out because what comes out is a window on what is really in our hearts.
So we have come full circle back to our scripture we began with. We must keep our hearts with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. How do we do this? By digging into God's Word and letting it permeate our hearts and lives, by memorizing key scripture verses that speak to your weak areas and by praying and asking God to help you in your weakness.Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
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