Want to Be A Lover of God?

There used to be wise sayings that seem to crop up all the time by our parents and grandparents, one of them was; you have two ears and one mouth, so you can listen twice as much as you speak. Actually, most of those wise sayings had some basis in the Bible. For example:

As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Ecclesiastes 5:1 (NLT)

Or consider this:

The heart of the righteous thinks carefully about how to answer [in a wise and appropriate and timely way],
But the [babbling] mouth of the wicked pours out malevolent things. Proverbs 15:28 (AMP)

We could go on and on, for there are many scriptures that speak to the wise being cautious before they speak, however, I think the point is clear, we should be careful before we speak, recognizing that words though spoken in haste cannot be taken back.

Today we are dealing with one celebrity or one high official after another who is quick to speak, tweet, or otherwise give some piece of their mind to the world, often causing a great deal of controversy. My comments are not to them, but to those who want to be lovers of God. We will never be able to change all the world, but we can change our corner of the world, by setting the example that James gave us:

`Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]; James 1:19 (AMP)

Lord, give me and all those who love YOU, wisdom.

Maria