“The one who guards his mouth protects his life;
the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.”
(Proverbs 13:3)
While attending one of Hawaii’s prestigious high schools, I would quote this Scripture verse to my parents every time they saw my latest report card with my failing classroom participation grade. I would try to tell them that I was just being silent in class in hopes of protecting my life. I would always feel trapped and silent when my teachers would ask students questions. I felt this way because of other students trying to answer the question before the teacher finished asking, while I was a slow thinker and processor of my own ideas.
Do you think before you speak to others? When you have crucial conversations with people who are searching for hope, truth, and comfort, what goes on in your mind? Are you trying to recall what you read on your news feed, or what saw a post on social media that pertained to the topic? Or are you urgently praying to God for wisdom, and words of encouragement and hope from His word to help you to minister to this person? We would be wise to listen more and to speak less. As the second part of this proverb states, when we speak too much, we will inevitably get ourselves into trouble and destruction will come upon us.
Let’s be cautious in how we speak to others, especially to our loved ones like our spouse, children, and best friends. When we do mess up and hurt someone else, let’s be quick to ask for forgiveness and to learn from our mistakes. Remember that God gave us two eyes so that we would see a lot, and two ears so that we would hear a lot. Yet, God gave us one tongue surrounded by a fence of teeth to remind us that we should hear and see a lot, and talk very little.