Watch Your Tongue

Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.

Proverbs 21:23

OVER THE PAST few years, different parts of the world have seen fresh outbreaks of an old disease: foot-and-mouth disease, sometimes called hoof-and-mouth disease. This is a viral disease that primarily affects cattle and pigs. It can also afflict deer, goats, sheep, and other animals with cloven hoofs, as well as elephants, rats, and hedgehogs.

This disease rarely affects humans. However, we face a similar-sounding disease all the time: foot-in-mouth disease.

Maybe you’ve experienced this one. You’re in the middle of a conversation and realize you’ve said the wrong thing. Or you make a snide comment about someone and learn the person you’re talking to is that person’s relative. Or when you’re upset, you make the mistake of opening your mouth, and—oh my!—the words that come out!

Don’t you love the Bible’s honesty about humans? Christians aren’t portrayed as superior beings that never mess up. Instead, the Bible deals with the problems we realistically face—like getting in trouble because of something we say. And it gives us realistic advice.

If you are sometimes afflicted with foot-in-mouth disease, follow the Bible’s advice. Ask God to help you practice keeping your mouth shut! If you can’t find anything good to say, there may not be anything that is worth saying. But if our minds and hearts are set on him, he will eventually give us words that build up and heal.