Day 6: The Overflow
By Gail Rodgers

Do you ever have words spill out of your mouth and wonder, "Where did that come from?" Sometimes we surprise ourselves with wit or wisdom. But often we also surprise ourselves with quick retorts, cutting words of sarcasm, criticism or anger. We all know that nagging feeling in our souls thinking, "I shouldn't have said that', or "Why did I say that?" Yet sometimes we feel justified in having spilled out our reaction feeling like the other party really deserved the cutting edge of our words or better yet, we deserved to say them!

Words have tremendous power in them. Words can bring life or death as they pour from our lips. If we were asked to recall some words that hurt us, most of us would not have to think long to bring up some wound in our heart inflicted by someone's words. The same is true of good things spoken. A sincere compliment warms the heart many times over.

In learning the ways of Jesus we discover the Bible has some significant things to say about our words. Listen: "Reckless words pierce like a sword but the tongue of the wise brings healing" Proverbs 12:18 and "The tongue has the power of life and death" Proverbs 18:21.

We don't have to live long to experience the truth of those verses. A parent or a teacher can inspire greatness in a child by life words. Life words carry people. Careless words can speak death to dreams or self-esteem, intentionally or unintentionally. Negative words drag people and situations down.

So how can we, as followers of Jesus, be the ones who speak life words when all too often we find ourselves spilling out something that we regret?

The answer is in tending to what is in our heart. The Bible says, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" Luke 6:45. It's all in the process of letting the Holy Spirit help us take charge of our thoughts so that the right attitudes develop in our heart and "life words" spill out of our mouths.

Listen to yourself today. Your words will tell you what you are entertaining in your mind that is making a trail to your heart and spilling out from there.

Ask the Holy Spirit today to help you mind your mind!

About the Author

Gail Rodgers has a passion for discovering and sharing how the Scriptures apply in very practical ways where we live and walk each day. She is a wife, mother of three, businesswoman and a pastor to women. She resides in Alberta, Canada with her family. Click to order Gail's new devotional book, Everything You Need: http://www.gailrodgers.ca/orderBook.htm or visit her web site at http://www.gailrodgers.ca. Click to e-mail Gail: mailto:editor@christianwomentoday.com?subject=Attn:Gail_Rodgers