Day 17: If You Don’t Mean It, Don’t Say It

Dear Friend,

We now come to the second 'disease' of the mouth: idle or careless words.

In Matthew12:36, Jesus says this:

“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” (NIV)

One day we are going to have to answer for every word we have spoken. We are going to have to answer for words that were idle, insincere, that we did not really mean, that we were not prepared to stand behind, or that were not worked out in our lives. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5:37, Jesus states:

“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (NIV)

That is an astonishing statement. If we say more than we mean, then the exaggeration (unnecessary emphasis or overdoing) in our speech comes from the evil one.

Let me sum it up in just one simple word of advice. If you don’t mean it, don’t say it. If you will follow that one rule, I promise you, it will change your whole life. You will be a different person. If you would keep that rule for one year, I promise you that a year from now you will be a different person and a much better person.