Every day you and I give people an impression of who Jesus is by the words we use.  Are they hearing, or reading, words from you which would draw them to Christ or push them away?  Are you using words which draw you into greater relationship with God or words which create distance?  Over the next 11 days I will be sharing from the devotional journal, “Watch Your Mouth”, with the prayer that it helps you discover some of what God has to say about choosing words which honor Him.

Here is day twenty-one with an important reminder that watching your mouth should lead you to use solemn words.

Choose Solemn Words

“When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, ‘Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.  They are not just idle words for you — they are your life.  By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.’”
Deuteronomy 32:45-47 (NIV)

What types of events do you think of as being solemn occasions?  As you think about what makes them so, how would those traits carry over into the idea of solemn words?  Have you ever had someone tell you something that you took completely serious only to have them add later, “Just kidding!”?  How did you feel?  Do people know you as one who can be serious when you need to be or do they tend to laugh you off when you try to be serious?  Why?

If you have ever had someone not follow through with something you had asked only to be told they didn’t think you were serious, you can probably understand the reason God describes the final instruction from Moses to the Israelites as being “solemnly declared”.  There are things we often joke about and probably shouldn’t take too seriously, but there are also things of great importance that require us to use solemn words.  As you pray, ask God to help you speak in ways that people will take the important things you say seriously.  Pray that you would be filled with loving words that also express the seriousness of having a relationship with Jesus.

In prayer,

Tom