The mouth is the second most abused part of the body after the eyes. It is the basic and commonest channel of ‘exhibition’. In spite of your age or background, your mouth reveals your depth/shallowness; your worth/essence; your wisdom/folly, your intelligence/stupidity, … Your mouth can open or shut doors depending on what it expresses; your words betray your folly or reveal your wisdom.
The test of the mouth is one that we face daily; let’s consider the following cases from the Bible.
- The 1st test in the Bible was that of the mouth. God faced the greatest challenge in history- a void, dark and formless world with no sign of hope! “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (Genesis 1:2 & 3 KJV)
I can’t imagine what kind of situation that was… But I know God had a choice to either complain, comply or create!
He then made a choice after ‘a moment’ of deep thinking as His Spirit accessed the situation on ground. He chose to be positive, to speak solution and not the problem!
He didn’t even rush into making man immediately; He instead got CLARITY by speaking LIGHT!
Genesis 1:3, 4 NLT Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness.
Life brings all sorts of challenges at different times; yet you have a CHOICE to decide what comes out of those situations!
The test of the MOUTH is indeed the greatest of all tests yet many millions (of Christians) fail this vital test DAILY…no wonder they are where they are… Sometimes, you are whee you are today, because of things you said yesterday!
Think more than you TALK! The test of the MOUTH is a test for EVERYDAY!
- The 2nd Test
Genesis 2:18-20 KJV says “And the LORD God said, It is not good And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
God created the earth and all that is in it, would naming the animals have been a big deal to Him? Yet He brought them before Adam, who had to do a mass naming ceremony for every single creature…including the WOMAN! This was also a test of the MOUTH, that’s why that verse says “… brought them unto Adam TO SEE what he would call them…“. This also infers that there could have been names that God could have considered inappropriate for the said creatures but on that note, father Adam seemed to have done a good job at that.
In fact, did you realize from the 2nd verse that it was concluded that a help ‘fit for Adam’ was not found? (… but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.). Wow! Did you get that? Part of the test was to see if Adam would name any of the creatures as his helper or companion in his state of loneliness, that is what God waited to see! You would recall that in verse 18: God confirmed that Adam needed a partner; in verse 19, Adam had to face a test; in verse 20, God certified that Adam had ‘passed’ and in 21&22, God produced the needed help for Adam! The WOMAN came first as a needed helper and also as a reward for the appropriate use of his MOUTH!
THE LESSON: There are things God knows you need but you probably denied yourself the chances of having them by the wrong use of your tongue! (Proverbs 18:21)
Now, can you tell who faced the very 3rd test of the MOUTH in the Bible? This is where it gets really intriguing!
- The 3rd Test
“Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
“Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God asked the woman, “How could you do such a thing?” “The serpent tricked me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly. (Genesis 3:11-14; NLT). The issue was not the fruit they ate; but the fact that Adam passed the bulk rather than take responsibility.
Eve didn’t fail because she ate and gave her man also; she was brought into the scene as Adam’s helper in the 1st instance, she was to help him where necessary! She was God’s 1st backup plan of restoration for man before Jesus! Since the man wasn’t responsible enough to have apologised to God for their wrong, God still chose to question the woman, hoping that she would salvage the situation via a sincere apology. Alas, the woman simply ‘copied & pasted’ her man’s error!
They both failed the MOUTH TEST when they explained & excused their wrong rather than acknowledge it.
- The 4th Test
Later Cain suggested to his brother, Abel, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were there, Cain attacked and killed his brother. Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?” “I don’t know!” Cain retorted. “Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?” (Genesis 4:8,9 NLT)
Mr “Mc Cain’s” 1st error was murder, the 2nd was telling a lie to hide his 1st error; 3rd was being rude and nonchalant about his 2nd & 3rd errors!
There lies a common truth amongst all four scenarios from ‘Grandpa Adam’ & ‘Grandma Eve’ to ‘Mr. Mc Cain’: things would’ve been pretty different (for them and for us all) in spite of the initial error committed in each case.
Abuse of the MOUTH is simply a verbal expression of a terrible ATTITUDE, which in turn is a product of a defective MIND SET/MENTALITY! Your mentality is what sets the pace for your reality!
- The 5th Test
“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. … They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.” (Gen11:1,3-8 NIV)
What an interesting saga! The issue God had was not with the project itself but with the motive that excluded the acknowledgement of His supremacy as God! The project was simply for self aggrandizement!
Anytime you boast in your own wisdom & ability, you simply portray pride and arrogance to God and that itself is “MOUTH ABUSE” when verbalised.
If not for the “Babelian folks”, we probably would all be speaking my own mother tongue and not yours… Lol
It’ll be unwise for you to ‘copy & paste’ this error!
Wrong Motives & Intentions corrupt the greatest of Actions!
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6NIV
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” Pro 3:5-7 KJV
Your mouth is your personal responsibility; how you guard it from abuse tells a lot about YOU!
Conclusion:
- In advertising, ‘word of mouth’ is said to be a most effective and priceless strategy amongst other alternatives. What does your mouth exhibit? You are a brand and you sure represent something, your ignorance of the essence you communicate via your words does not cancel the fact that you do communicate and exhibit a lot through your choice and tone of words.
- If you are married, the wisdom here is that men rarely hear the point you are trying to make but how you put the point across.
- If you are a married man, learn to filter what your wife says to get the point she’s making. You may need to look beyond the attached sentiments.
David was said to have killed a lot of men haven killed just ‘a Goliath’, King Saul took those words for a fact and misbehaved in the process. (1 Samuel 18:6-9)
If you don’t learn to courteously communicate or respond to issues, you are likely to provoke a deeper cycle of frustration without being able to communicate your valid point anyway.
I realized from my study that one who is unable to control his tongue will find it almost impossible to manage anything else … The words you feed your marriage will eventually show. Your mouth is either your mountain or a tool for your making; you decide.
My philosophy:
I will rather be guilty of silence than to be accused of wrong words.
If you can’t control your mouth, you don’t own the mouth; it own’s you.
Proverbs 25:28 KJV: He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
NLT: A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls.
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