The tongue can be a very nasty member of the body.

Prov. 13:3  Those who control their tongue will have a long life; a quick retort can ruin everything.

The tongue can be a very nasty member of the body.  Everyone of us have been victim and victimizers of others with the tongue.  We say things that we often regret.  We hurt those we love and care about with the words we speak.  We say things that sometimes are simply not true because we don’t have our facts straight and sometimes we fail to take the time to consider how we will affect others by what we say.  We speak often from our emotions instead of our heads.  Sometimes we may even wish that we could cut our tongue out so we don’t hurt anyone anymore.

Scripture makes it clear that what we speak comes from the heart.  Therefore, we must take a serious look at our hearts.  We must regularly ask ourselves, “Is my heart right with God?”  Do we take the time we need in God’s Word to have our souls exposed before God?  You cannot spend time in the Word on a consistent basis without seeing yourself as falling short of God’s standards of holiness.  God’s Word is clear; we all fall short of God’s glory.  No one is so righteous that he does not sin.  Biting and hurtful words come from a heart that is not right with God.

If you need to gain better control of your tongue, take your need for the Lord to have control of you more seriously.  Self-control is one of the evidences that you are under the control of the Spirit of Christ.  You will never perfectly control your tongue, but you can do better than you now do.  The issue is, “Will you let the Lord have His way with you?”

Don’t ruin everything.  Take the time to be holy in your heart so that your tongue won’t betray you.