The Tongue
Yesterday eating with Dane at Milo's was a disaster! It wasn't that Dane and I were at odds - we actually had a great conversation. It wasn't that the food was bad - it was Milo's . . . of course it was good. The problem was that I bit a hunk out of my tongue! A HUNK! In the middle of my #1 combo meal I bit my tongue - reached in with my finger to see if it was bleeding - it was - stuck a napkin in there to wipe off the blood - the napkin had blood pooled in it. At this point I'm thinking it must have been pretty bad so I asked Dane to look at my tongue. I grabbed it by the tip, pulled it out and to the right so he could see down the left side where I bit it. He uttered only one word - GUSHING! I interpreted that to mean there was a lot of blood coming out . . . the red napkins I kept pulling out of my mouth confirmed that diagnosis! It finally quit and I finished my #1 combo meal - tho in much pain (but you can't just toss out good Milo's food!)
I know what you're thinking - every time some Christian (particularly a pastor) starts to speak about the tongue, it's going to a lesson on all the evil words, sarcastic remarks, biting criticisms, rude comments, gossip, etc. that we speak. While it's certainly true that the Bible teaches us to guard our tongue against such sinful patterns of speech, we must also remember we're called to guard our tongue FOR the use of praise, adoration, and proclaiming the Gospel. At one point I honestly considered calling Steve to preach for me today because it hurt really bad to talk as my wounded tongue constantly brushed against my teeth. But God graciously brought a degree of healing and I was able to go ahead as planned and preach this morning. God reminded me that the tongue is to be guarded for His purposes!
So as we pray about our tongues let's not just pray that we wouldn't say bad stuff, but let's also pray that the Lord would protect our tongues and use them for His glory, for His praise, to proclaim His Gospel to those around us.
guarding my tongue to proclaim the Gospel,
Burt
I know what you're thinking - every time some Christian (particularly a pastor) starts to speak about the tongue, it's going to a lesson on all the evil words, sarcastic remarks, biting criticisms, rude comments, gossip, etc. that we speak. While it's certainly true that the Bible teaches us to guard our tongue against such sinful patterns of speech, we must also remember we're called to guard our tongue FOR the use of praise, adoration, and proclaiming the Gospel. At one point I honestly considered calling Steve to preach for me today because it hurt really bad to talk as my wounded tongue constantly brushed against my teeth. But God graciously brought a degree of healing and I was able to go ahead as planned and preach this morning. God reminded me that the tongue is to be guarded for His purposes!
So as we pray about our tongues let's not just pray that we wouldn't say bad stuff, but let's also pray that the Lord would protect our tongues and use them for His glory, for His praise, to proclaim His Gospel to those around us.
guarding my tongue to proclaim the Gospel,
Burt
posted by Yates Boykin at 6:53 PM
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