Psalms 19:14
“14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”
The Importance of Right Words - part 1
The Bible tells us that God knows our thoughts. He also hears all that we say. It is important to think before we speak. There is a saying: “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That saying is not true. It is true that sticks and stones can break my bones, but words also hurt us.
It is important to note here that the judge of our words in the LORD. It is not man. In today’s world many people are too full of themselves. Pride is a very big problem for man. Pride is sin. Psychology says be positive and say things that are pleasing to the ears. Man is not a good judge of what right words are. However, God is the right judge of words. He knows what good words are. He knows what is acceptable.
Our words should be truthful. One of the sins of man is gossip.
1 Timothy 5:13
“13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.”
The apostle Paul talks of women in this context who are busybodies and tattlers. A busybody is someone who is overly concerned about other people’s affairs. This person is often guilty as well of then taking what they see or hear and spreading it to others.
A tattler is one who is more than happy to tell on someone else. To say foolish things and try to get a reaction. They are not interested in trying to help, but are seeing if they can get someone else in trouble to try to make themselves look better.
The context of these two words is with regard to women’s behaviour, however it is not just women who are guilty of these things. Many times men sitting around in a coffee shop are busybodies and tattlers. They have just been out and about and now they gather to “share” their lies. It does not need to be men in a coffee shop, but can be anytime someone just wants to say things that are not right and true. These things are forms of gossip.
Gossip is words that are designed to destroy and to hurt. Gossip is lying. Gossip is also spreading things about other people just to tell a ‘juicy’ tale. It is not for the purpose of praying for another person, but to put the person down or to try to tell what is hoped to be an interesting tale. Gossip is not acceptable to the LORD. It is a sin that the Christian needs to confess to God and forsake. It is sin for all people, but the lost person needs to be saved first and then they will have the power to be able to forsake this sin and many others.