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1 Peter 3:10
“For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:”
Proverbs 18:21
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
James 1:19
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:“
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The Word of God has a tremendous amount to say about ‘the tongue’. The scriptures referenced above only scratch the surface as we broach this topic. First off, we were created in the ‘image of God’ Genesis 1:7 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” As we continue to read through the books of both the Old & New Testaments we see that God’s Words were creative & powerful. God SAID ‘Let there be light and there was light’ in the first book of the Bible. In Psalms 107.20 “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Another example can be found in the New Testament when Jesus (who was God in the flesh) healed the centurions servant by speaking the Word alone – Matthew 8:13 “And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.”
Words are ‘containers’ that carry either life or death as well as blessing or cursing to yourself and those that are affected by the words that you speak. By being created in God’s image it is important that we follow His example, we must imitate His behavior by speaking words that edify (build up) each other, rather than tear each other down. Ephesians 5:1 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;” another translation says that we are to be ‘mockers & imitators’ of God as dear children.