DID YOU KNOW: (A few interesting facts about your tongue.)
The tongue is the strongest muscles in your body.... it is also the most sensitive.
A print of your tongue is as unique to you as your fingerprints.
Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is not connected on both sides.
The tongue heals faster than any other part of your body.
Keeping your tongue clean helps prevent heart attacks, pneumonia, diabetes and many other major health concerns.
And last... (you knew I was going somewhere with this one, right?) the bible uses the word tongue 129 times. Sometimes it is referring to the a language, but most of the time it is referring to the words the we speak to one another. (Yes.... this is one of those blog entries....)
Actually, this is a brief bible study I did on Proverbs 15:4 some time ago, and God has reminded me of it today and of the desperate need others have of hearing His advice. Please, take heed to God's word - the world is watching.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life:
but perverseness therein
is a breach in the spirit.
I couldn't tell you how many times I have read this verse... but this time, it was different, this time I noticed something that I had missed before.
The bible says that a wholesome tongue is a tree of life..... but perverseness THEREIN is a breach in the spirit. Did you notice that... perversness in the tongue is a breach in the spirit.
Anyhow, I thought about this verse for a while... somehow I have always missed that it was talking about perverseness of the tongue, and in my little brain, I had changed the meaning to being perverse in your heart. But that isn't what the bible says...
But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered how can your tongue be perverse? So, I looked it up.... (condensed version from the Webster 1828 dictionary)
PERVERSE, a. pervers'. [L. perversus. See Pervert.]
1. Literally, turned aside; hence, distorted from the right.
2. Obstinate in the wrong; disposed to be contrary; stubborn; untractable.
3. Cross; petulant; peevish; disposed to cross and vex.
Wow! Not the meaning I thought at all. According to the dictionary, being perverse isn't being horribly twisted and wicked like I tended to think. Rather, it is a distortion of what is right (okay, I can see that) it is being obstinate when you are in the wrong (and refusing to admit it) it is a disposition to be contrary or cross! Perverseness is largely about attitude.... Again, WOW!
Okay, so the bible is saying that a wholesome tongue is a tree of life..... but being obstinate and contrary with your words is a breach in the spirit. (Arguments evolve from using words with an attitude like this!)
One more time... WOW!
The word breach means a violent separation... so the bible says that while wholesome words are a tree of like, using words that stir up contention and cause arguments will create a violent separation in your spirit... for those that are saved... guess where that breach is? (Yes... between your spirit and the Holy Spirit. It's pretty hard to bridge a violent separation between you and God without some serious prayer and repentance!)
But you know, this goes a lot further than just causing a breach in your own spirit. As you study what the bible says about our words and the way we use them, you'll see that your words can pacify anger or stir it up. They can speak of righteousness and praise to God, or of lying and wickedness. They can also encourage the soul or come between the closest of friends.
The tongue, and the way you choose to use it really is amazing. It has farther reaching consequences, both good or bad, than we will ever imagine. (And in a world as technologically based as ours, it isn't only the words we speak, but those that we write as well) You can use your wholesome words to lead a soul to Christ, or you can use your perverse words to separate friends, churches, families and send souls to hell. Can you guess which words are stronger? Here is one last verse for you.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:
so is the tongue among our members,
that it defileth the whole body,
and setteth on fire the course of nature;
and it is set on fire of hell.
James 3:6
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