Shhhhhhh…, Thursday, January 20, 2011

Reading: Ecclesiastes 6:11, The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?

It’s amazing. After a child is born, the first “coo”, the parents react with delight. Then, it comes to the time that the baby says its first word, all ears perk up, and everyone seems to flood in the room. “Did you hear that? She said her first word.” Grandparents are called and other family members are contact to tell them the incredible news. Then you fast forward about five or six years and you find yourself saying, “Just be quiet for a minute! My goodness! I can’t even think. You just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.”

We can tend to be the same way. When we are new born Christians, we tend to listen and ask questions. At some point we think we’ve gained the knowledge to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Jesus, as always, is our perfect example. If you were to read aloud His sermon on the mount, it would last a whole 15 minutes. 15 minutes! Yet, we could run a year long series on all the powerful points that He said during His brief message. Short but powerful!

Also, just like parents who have transitions from the 1st spoken word to never ending verbage, God tends to feel the same way; as Jesus put it so well in His sermon on the mount, “7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Yet, He still wants you to pray to Him about it. It’s the point at which He says, “talk, talk, talk, talk and, yet, you’re not talking to me. You are simply attempting to wax eloquent and just say a bunch of word.” To put it simply, just like we expect out of our children, instead of just talking to hear ourselves talk, think first. Make the words that come out of our mouth mean something.

How well do you listen?

Do you think before you speak, selecting your words carefully to keep the value and importance of what you have to say?


Challenge: Today, anytime you open your mouth to speak, make it valuable.

REVIEW

Did you take time to think before you spoke today, including your prayers?


How were you able to make your words valuable today?