A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue. Proverbs 11:12

As I write this each day, I’m beginning to see a pattern. It seems that no matter which book I’m in, topics dealing with “the tongue” crop up: gossip, slander, deriding a neighbor, idle chatter, lying, coarse jesting. It’s throughout Scripture.

That should tell us something about what God thinks about what we say. It’s obvious that we can use our tongue for good or evil, the Book of James shows us that. Unfortunately we catch ourselves all too often using it to put down someone.

So, what to do? We need to guard what we say, everything we say, all the time. It’s not easy to do. In fact, it’s impossible to do without help from God.