BibleTimeLines.com

If you had a choice, which would you choose for the people you know: your loved ones, your family, the people you meet, the people you deal with?    Would you choose death for them?  Or would you choose life for them?  If it was in your power to give each of these either life or death, which would you choose to give?  I think I know your answer.
 
Perhaps most of us live our lives just “doing what comes naturally” not realizing we really are giving death or life to everyone we are in contact with.  Most of us are unaware that the Bible has something to say about this.

I believe in what is written in God’s Word, the Bible, and I hope you do also.  The Bible has some very powerful things to say about our power to give death or life to all those around us.

I am going to quote several Bible verses here, all of which relate to this subject.  (I hope you will commit these verses to memory so you will have them in your memory bank available for God to bring to your remembrance at the appropriate time.)  I am using the New King James Version.

1. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”  Proverbs 18:21
2.  “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life.” Proverbs 10:11  
3.  “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life.”  Proverbs 15:4
4.  “The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor.”  Proverbs 11:9     
5.  “There is one who speaks like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.” Proverbs 12:18  
6.  “He who guards his mouth preserves his life.” Proverbs 13:3  
7.  “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  Proverbs 15:1  
8.  “He who is of a merry heart, has a continual feast.”  Proverbs 15:15  
9.  “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.”  Proverbs 16:24  
10.  “A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.”  Proverbs 17:22  
11.  “Anxiety in the heart of a man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.” Proverbs 12:25  
12.  “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man.” James 3:2   
13.  “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.” James 3:6  
14.  “He who guards his mouth preserves his life.” Proverbs 13:3  
15.  “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matthew 12:37  
16.  “Every idle word men may speak; they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment.”  Matthew 12:36  

    
Let's take a brief look back at some of the verses quoted above.  Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” And Proverbs 13:3 says, “He who guards his mouth, preserves his life.”  I can think of many examples to illustrate the wisdom of these verses.  

Have you heard of anyone being killed due to road rage?  Kindness and courtesy can save lives on our highways.  It might even save your life.  In the area where I live there are frequent murders resulting from an argument.  The argument escalates.  No one has a soft word.  In some cases both individuals die in the fight that follows.  What a needless tragedy.  It all might have been avoided if one of these persons had known, and been willing to practice, “A soft answer turns away wrath….” Proverbs 15:1, or “He who guards his mouth preserves his life.”  Proverbs 13:3.

I believe, most if not all of us, are sometime thrust into confrontations where we would do well to remember to apply this principal of using “A soft answer”.  It could save a life, and the life you save might be your own.  

Notice Proverbs 18:21, “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life”.  And Proverbs 10:11, “A wholesome tongue is a tree o f life”.  Isn’t it nice to know we can actually help others to have a longer, happier, healthier life just by being decent, kind and thoughtful in our words as well as our deeds?  I hope none of us would want to be like the hypocrite who “…with his mouth destroys his neighbor” Proverbs 11:9.

Proverbs 17:22,  ”Anxiety in the heart of a man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad”.  There are so many people all around us suffering from depression.  Isn’t it good to know we have the power to help them by speaking a good word to all those we come in contact with?  By only speaking a good word we are relieving some of their anxiety, soothing their anxious heart.  Everyone needs to know that someone cares.  They also need to be reassured that God still cares about them and loves them.  They need to know that He will work for their good.  We might need to point them to the Bible, God’s word, where they can become acquainted with Him and know that He does indeed care about them.  He says in John 6:37, “The one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.”  And they can “taste and see that the Lord is good” Psalms 34:8.     
    
I choose to imitate Jesus.  How about you?  He never needlessly spoke an unkind word.  Both His touch and His words gave healing.  His perfect example, His pattern continues to give healing through us. If we follow His example, our words-our speech will bring healing and health to all those around us.   
    
Juan Ponce de Leon searched diligently for the Fountain of Youth, but isn’t The Fountain of Youth¸ a Well of Life, and a Tree of Life all very similar?  It appears to me if you are looking for a life extending ingredient for your family and friends, you have found it.  “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.”  “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life.”  And “…the tongue of the wise promotes health”.

In light of all the good counsel given us by the wise man, King Solomon, and others in the above Scriptures we need to guard our tongues and words very carefully so our mouth is always “A Well of Life”, and a “Tree of life”, always promoting health.  But we also want to preserve our own well being. “He who guards his mouth preserves his life.”

 Eddie