Do You Value Your Words?

(Prov 21:28 NASB)  A false witness will perish, But the man who listens to the truth will speak forever.

This morning we continue our series entitled “Unlocking the Power of Proverbs – Walking in the Wisdom of God.”  Solomon hated liars.  He spoke out about this many times in Proverbs.  Actually, telling lies and bearing false witness are two of the seven things God hates as well (see Proverbs 6).  Why is God against lying so much?  I believe it is because satan a liar and the Bible actually says he is the “father of lying” (John 8:44).  Satan is deceptive in every way and lying is his native tongue.  So when you speak lies you are speaking satan’s language.  Let’s look at three things about this:

1.  Lying is bad:  People whose words (audio) don’t match their actions (video) are people of flawed character.  These people lack integrity.  Let me explain.  The word integrity comes from the word “integrated” or “integrate.”  You, like God, are a tri-partite being; meaning that there are three parts of you.  You are a spirit, you possess a soul, and you live in a body.  If your spirit desires one thing, but your soul another, and yet your body is pulling you in a third direction, then you are not fully integrated.  This inward struggle will eventually lead to a conflict and hence, a violation of your integrity.  If you can learn to control your tongue then you will literally learn to control your life, because what comes out of your tongue is an outward representation of what is going on inside of you.  Believers who lie are people who are losing the battle on the inside.  The Holy Spirit tells them to speak the truth, but their soul leads them to speak a lie.

2.  Lying about someone else is worse:  There are three main categories of faults: Iniquity (inward), transgression (outward), and sin (upward).  When you bear false witness, when you intentionally lie about the actions of another, you are committing all three.  You are sinning (upward) against God, you are committing a transgression (outward) against man, and it is all because of your inward flaws.  It is one thing to lie and violate yourself, but quite another to lie on someone else and attempt to bring them down.  The modern day word for this is slander.  Slander is a defamation of character; a malicious, false, and derogatory statement or report about someone else; an attempt to defame someone’s good name.  Jehovah hates this, because it shows that you clearly don’t value the life of the other person.  You are not the creator.  You don’t know what God wants to do with that person.  You don’t know what their destiny is.  You don’t know the plans that God has for them and when you speak lies against them you may be coming up against God’s purpose for their lives.  When you come up against them, you are coming up against all that God wants to do in and through them.

3.  When you lie you devalue your words:  Here Solomon says that a false witness will perish.  Neither he, nor his words will stand.  Once his lies are exposed his reputation is destroyed, no credit will be given him, and no value will be placed on anything he says.  But when you speak the truth – when you say what you mean and you mean what you say – your word becomes your bond and your words will retain their value.  When you are committed to speaking the truth your words will mean something to others because they mean something to you!

So what does this mean to you today? Paul said it best when he said, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Eph 4:29).  Your words can either minister grace or destruction.  Which will you choose?

Closing Confession:  Father, I speak the truth in love.  Even when I don’t like the things that others do, I refuse to use my lips as a weapon against them.  I refrain from speaking evil and definitely from speaking lies.  No corrupt communication proceeds from out of my mouth, but only that which is good, that it may minister grace, peace, and love to the hearers.  If I can’t honestly say good things about someone, I will refrain from saying anything at all.  I keep my tongue and I rule my life.  Father, I don’t know what You are doing in the lives of others and I refuse to come up against You, and Your purpose for their lives.  My words matter to me, so they will also matter to others.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This is Today’s Word!  Apply it and Prosper!