Put a Filter on Your Tongue

How often have you said something or heard someone say something that was mildly inappropriate or just simply out of place?  Now mind you, what I am talking about is usually not a filthy word or sexual innuendo, just something mindlessly said but often easily misunderstood.  As an example, my wife and I were recently discussing someone we know that loves the Lord Jesus dearly, but they seem to have NO FILTER on their tongue.  If this person thinks it…it quickly comes out of their mouth, no matter how it sounds.  They have made comments that could easily be seen as an attack of their church family and even, at times, have said things that one could easily construe as an assault on me as their pastor.  But their actions are clearly very different as they are faithful in serving and have never once actually done anything that undermines my authority as their pastor.  They just have NO FILTER on their tongue.

So how important are filtering our words?

1. Psalm 19:14 says “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”  Notice that both the thoughts and words matter to the Psalmist.  But more importantly notice the order in which these thoughts are given.  In scripture the order of listings are crucial and in Psalm 19:14 the spoken words come first in the list.  This means that the words are actually MORE important than the meditation of the heart.  Why?  Because people will not judge what we are thinking before they hear what we say.  As a matter of fact the meditation of our heart cannot be known by men until we utter them in words.  People are going to first judge our hearts and motivations not by what we do, but by what we say.  Thus we MUST FILTER our words BEFORE we say them.  Now mind you, we can at times say things we supposedly don’t mean, but said in Matthew 12:34, “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” So truthfully, we did mean to say them at that moment and thus we need a FILETR.
2. In Deuteronomy 18:18, God prophetically told that He would send a Prophet Whom He “will put my words in his mouth…”  To clarify this was a foretelling of Prophet Jesus, the Son of God - thus the capital “P.”  But even in that prophecy God said He would put the words there in Jesus’ mouth.  Thus showing the importance of the words being under God’s control, even in His Son’s mouth.  Jesus never one time said anything that was contrary to the will of His Father nor against the Word of God.  Can we honestly say the same?  James 1:26 says, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.”  Again notice it’s the WORDS of the tongue not just the intent of the heart.
3. Paul wrote something that I really need to work on, and maybe someone else can glean from it too right here.  In Ephesians 5:4, God inspired Paul to write a list of three types of speech that can cause major problems and thus we should NEVER use them.  These three types of speech are filthiness, foolish talking, and jesting.   Here is where it becomes personal for me as I like to be funny and make people laugh, but sometimes I will tease or “make fun” of something in a way that can easily be misunderstood and I am truly trying to STOP that kind of thing completely.  Why?  Because it is WRONG! This hopefully past “teasing” is best described as “foolish talking” and I want no part of it any more.  I have asked the Lord to put a filter on my tongue for foolish talking.  Of course I want no part of filthiness which is is obvious, and, jesting which is an interesting word used only here in Ephesians.  Jesting can best be illustrated when a politician calls a political opponent, “My distinguished friend.”  He does not mean it and really, if truth were known, he cannot tolerant the person or their views, yet they call them a “friend.”  In other words, “jesting” is sarcasm wrapped in platitudes.  Again we need a FILTER on our tongue!

So what should we do to filter our tongue?

Much could be said here, but let me keep it simple - Taste your words first.  If they are bitter swallow them so that no one else has to taste them.  If they are sweet and uplifting then let cross your lips to be shared with others.