CARELESS TALK COSTS!

In recent days, there has been a level of unsettling incidences within the government, one of which led to another ministerial sack earlier on this week.

 I am not planning to be political in any way but only seek to bring out a message I learnt from the event that led to the sacking of the Home Secretary Suella Braverman. Our former Home Secretary had a view which she wrote about. Unfortunately, her line manager, the Prime Minister did not approve of the words and believed it would further cause division in a divided society. Despite the statement not being approved of, it was still sent out to the press and got into the public eye. Of course, that had a lot of repercussions.

As I looked at this incident, I once more learnt the lesson of how valuable our words are and how our words, either innocently or maliciously said, can cause a lot of havoc. Careless words are very costly, and the Bible rightly says that we should desist from using our words in a careless manner. Words are very powerful, and they can lead to war or bring peace within a society.

It is unwise to just say what we think or feel without considering the effects of the words we speak on others. I remember learning this lesson in a very distinct way as a younger lady.

When I was younger and within a university fellowship setting, I was asked my opinion about a certain person, and I said it without giving deep thought to the impact of my words. The words I spoke was then quoted and subsequently misquoted without the context being mentioned. The person whom I commented about unfortunately left the fellowship and decided never to have anything to do with our Christian fellowship again. I totally regretted being a catalyst to someone choosing to drop off the Christian fellowship and from that time, I learnt my lesson. I am no longer quick to speak. I think of the impact of my words on others.

God in His word says.

‘Careless words stab like a sword, but wise words bring healing’ Proverbs 12:18

Careless words are very dangerous and impact people negatively, so we as believers or even leaders must be careful how we use our words. We should be quick to produce healing with the words of our mouth and not division, danger, or pain.

I wonder if you have carelessly spoken words that hurt others in the past and have been asking yourself how to redress such. It starts with asking God for forgiveness and then if the person your words hurt is within your reach; reach out to them and apologise. From then on, ask the Holy Spirit to help you speak only words that edify, build up and heal.



By the way, you do have control over your tongue; so, exercise it!

God is on your side!