We’re quick to avoid murder,
stealing, and drunkenness, but we often assassinate other people and leave
destruction in our wake by the way we use our tongues. Husbands have stabbed
their wives with words that are as sharp as daggers and wives have lashed out
with tongues that cut and pierce. Parents have devastated their kids by
repeated blasts of venom. Children have exploded at their parents with volleys
that have leveled the family like a bomb. Lives have been devastated by wagging
tongues that have sliced, diced, and chopped people to shreds.

We live in a country where we insist on our
freedom of speech. You can’t tell me what to say or what not to say! I have my
rights! I have the right to speak my mind! Sound familiar? It’s our
constitutional right. It’s our God given right. Or is it? Do we have the right
to speak at the expense of others? Do we have the right to speak even when our
words may hurt the person who we are speaking to or about? Do we really have
the right? The world says we do but as a follower of Jesus Christ I would beg
to differ. If anyone had rights it was Jesus Christ but the scripture says that
when he was persecuted when he was brought to stand trial rather than standing
up for his rights and saying he had done nothing wrong, rather than calling ten
thousand angels to destroy the world and set him free he “kept silent!” He
surrendered his freedom of speech for you and me!

Before you speak your mind consider this: has
your mind been transformed? If it’s been changed to reflect God’s love for
people then the things that come out of your mouth will be different. Rethink
your “freedom of speech.”

People know what’s in you by what comes out of
you! If you claim to be a follower of Christ but the things that you do and the
way that you talk doesn’t match that claim then you’re not fooling anyone. I
can tell you what’s in your heart by listening to your speech. If you’re
gossiping and tearing others down constantly then I know what’s in your heart.
How? because Jesus said it’s obvious. A good heart will not produce bad fruit. The
tongue has a way of revealing who we really are. It’s impossible to hide it.