My beautiful wife had a gift for me today - 4 tubes of Blistex. Seems they wee samples or something, but I can sure use them. Maybe now I won't have dry lips all the time. I'll take a tube to work put one in each of my jackets and keep one by my desk. So, I am covered, or my lips will be anyway.
Lips seem to get us in trouble a lot. Not really the lips, but what passes through them, in the form of words. I know I say a lot of things I shouldn't from time to time and I usually want to take it back the second after I say it. It's like I temporarily leave my body, something spews out and I jump back in just in time to feel that sinking feeling in my stomach. Ouch! I just did some damage here.
I like what Proverbs 21:23 says:
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
How true that is. We seem to always know the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. This can be a huge testimony killer as well as do damage to the Lord's Name. Because we are His body here on the earth and the lost world looks to us as Christ's ambassadors (per 2 Corinthians 5:20). We have to constantly be on guard for the mouth can bring swift destruction.
Luke 6:45 tells us that from the heart is what our mouth speaks. So, that means it is a sin issue, not a mouth issue at all. Kind of like blaming a gun for killing someone instead of the person pulling the trigger. Our hearts and flesh are wicked and we must practice holiness. We must put the things of the flesh far from us and focus on the Lord. I am 100% sure that if you say something sinful that the Lord is not your focus at the time. He can't be. I know when I speak things I shouldn't it is because of selfish reasons. I either want to make a point by shock or I want to be funny and fit in. It doesn't happen that often, but once is too much.
But this does just show me that I have a sin problem. Any sin is a problem and all sin springs forth from the heart. We see in James 1:14 the pathway of sin - we lust, we desire, we sin and we die. Fairly straight forward from James, I must say. He has a way of laying things out point blank and I really appreciate that and that God used him to write the book that bares his name. I rally need these kinds of verses that snap us back into the reality of just how sinful we are. I thank God that He has allowed me to see how sinful I am, because that is the first step to seeing just how gracious and loving my God is.
He has cleansed me from all unrighteousness, even when I say something I shouldn't have. But I definitley do not use that as an excuse to commit sin. I feel the weight of my sin and know that is why Christ had to die. So, I do not take my sins lightly. As children of God we are loosed from the bondage of sin, but oh how hard the battle is. I must continue to lean on God for strength to battle my wicked flesh...daily.
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