What is the motive behind your words?

Psalm 15:1-3 (AMP) "Lord, who shall dwell in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works rightness and justice and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart, He who does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor..."

In the 1^st verse of Psalm 15, David is asking who may dwell in the presence of God. According to Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary, the word dwell means:

To abide as a permanent resident, or to inhabit for a time; to live in a place; to have a habitation for some time or permanence.

Both the tabernacle and the holy hill represent places of worship for the Israelites. God calls us to be morally upright and in this Psalm we are given 10 standards to determine how we’re doing. Today, I am going to focus on the one that has to do with one of the smallest parts of our body...the tongue.  David writes:

"He who speaks and thinks to truth in his heart, He who does not slander with his tongue..."

Think about that for just a minute...  "speaks and thinks the truth and does not slander."

Words are powerful and how I choose to use them reflects my relationship with Christ.  Okay, so I had to take a big gulp there. Sometimes, I will admit, my words are laced with anger and sarcasm. As a Christian, if I am supposed to be Christ-like... am I reflecting the very nature of Christ if angry and sarcastic words are spewed out of my mouth.

GULP, ummmmm that would be a big NO.

I know Christ displayed anger at the temple when he turned over the money-changers' tables but His heart and His motives were pure. I can't say that my motives are 100% pure when my angry words go flying.

People around me are also constantly watching to see how I live and act. So my next question has to be, what do they hear when they listen to the words coming out of my mouth? Do they hear a controlled tongue that encourages and builds people up and refuses to slander or gossip? Or do they hear my negativity and my words bashing people I have issues with?

I want to “dwell” with God where ever He is. To do this, I have to remind myself before I speak to ask:

1.     Is what I have to say true?

2.     Is it necessary?

3.     Is it kind?

If the answer to any of these questions is NO…then the words need to remain unspoken.

Father today, help me engage my brain before engaging my mouth!  Amen