“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life….” Phil. 2:14-16.
The verses above are quite challenging to believers, especially in a world full of negativity. To do everything without complaining or arguing can be a tall order. Yet, in order to maintain unity, especially in this season, we must not allow Satan to use our tongues to wound, divide and cause distance between us and others.
To live up to this challenge, the believer must develop that habit of speaking positive, encouraging, faith-filled words…about everything. That is a challenge. You can start by re-framing such things as the weather. You could say, “I thank God for the rain.” “God made the seasons, so they must be good.” Or you could say nothing about the subject at all…lest you get a ‘fire going.’
Part of speaking biblically, is living and speaking by the Word of God, which is the ‘word of your confession.’ Also, we must learn not to live by our feelings or emotions, but by the principles of God’s word. Ps. 119. If you can’t say anything good about something, say nothing at all.
A man in a small town was known by everyone in that town as the most difficult troublemaker. Everyone tried to avoid him, but inevitably, they would meet him, and trouble would begin. Finally, he passed away. As was the custom of that town, the whole town gathered at the grave site to bury anyone who passed. It was also their custom to say positive things about the one who passed away. As the whole village stood staring into the un-filled grave, they waited in silence for what seemed like an eternity, for someone to say even the smallest thing positive about the man. Finally, after a long wait, one man spoke up and said, “Well…he wasn’t as bad sometimes, as he was at other times….” At last, they buried him.
We all can do better in our speech…let us all learn carefulness and pause, before we ‘blurt.’