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Have you ever said something and realized later that it was wrong?

Then you felt sick at heart with the burden, it was so heavy with sorrow and regret? You knew later that you had said the wrong thing - logically, and spiritually.

An accidental encounter with a man who was to become a close friend, spoke the following words when I told him I was a writer: “Be careful with words…you can’t get them back…”. I have thought many, many times of his words since then. I had only begun to write, and his words, I pray, have served me well. There have been a few times when I have been sick of heart, because of wrong words. I could not undo what had been said.

Why is it so difficult to forgive words received from others, and also so hard to rid the memory of words said to others?

Wars have begun because of a very few words. Families are broken in pieces, tender hearts broken, marriages broken, and, yes perhaps many wars have been started and fought because of a few words…either because they were the wrongs words, or because of the way they were said. Even honest misunderstands can lead to terrible consequences.

The story is told about a church service when a very powerful sermon was being given. When the preacher turned to sit down after his sermon, an elderly man who was sitting on the very back row in the congregation stood up and said in a very loud voice over a very quite congregation, said: “Preacher, what you are screams louder than what you say!!”

How often such comment is felt but never said, God only knows. It is often much easier to live one way, and give an opposite impression with our words. Jesus Christ is not impressed with words, just because they are spoken by someone who is expected to be speaking appropriate words.

One of the writers who wrote a book of the bible addressed this problem. Some seem to believe that it really doesn't matter what we say to a fellow Christian…they will know that I love them no matter what I say - or, how I say it. But the sad truth is that how something is said is perhaps even more important than what is said. Notice:

“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweet and delightful to the soul and healing to the body.” - Proverbs 16:24

Words can lift a broken heart, and has been proven to aid in physical healing of the body. The correct words, spoken at the right time have prevented threatening actions between individuals, and the threat of war. Regardless of the setting in which words are spoken, the consequences can be the same, if the words spoken are spoken in the wrong tone and demeanor by those who speak.

The wrong word and the wrong tone of those words have enormous consequences - if not immediate, then possibly for the future, whether individuals, churches, or nations.

ALL will stand before Jesus and give an account of every word.

Be very careful with words. You can’t get them back...

“But I tell you, on the day of judgment people will have to give an accounting for every careless or useless word they speak. For by your words [reflecting your spiritual condition] you will be justified and acquitted of the guilt of sin; and by your words [rejecting Me] you will be condemned and sentenced.” - Matthew 12:26-38

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

Milque-Toast Prayers