May the Words of My Heart... Meditation

Trevin Wax

An interesting topic for a church history dissertation would be the origin and rise of choosing a “life verse”—a portion of Scripture chosen by a Christian as especially meaningful, words that serve as a banner over his or her life. I believe the practice is recent, appearing only in the past hundred years or so, yet it is widespread among evangelicals who accentuate the personal power of hearing God’s Word.

During my first trip to Romania as a 15-year-old, I claimed Psalm 19:14 as my life verse.

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Whatever church we visited, when given an opportunity to speak, I spoke about this prayer. In the years following, other passages of Scripture have marked my life in immeasurable ways: the majesty of Romans 8, the parables of Luke 15, and especially the incomparable and indispensable Lord’s Prayer, which I recite every morning, noon, and night.

But as someone whose work involves words—reading them, thinking them, writing them, speaking them—I keep going back to Psalm 19:14.

During the two and a half years I served my church as teaching pastor, I prayed these words out loud every week after reading the Scripture at the start of the sermon. One of the most meaningful notes I received was from a third-grader in our congregation who wrote the verse out word-for-word on a piece of paper and gave it to me along with a word of thanks for how I prayed that verse before I preached. Fernando Ortega’s musical treatment of this verse (artistically combined with the Philippians 4 “whatever is true” passage) has been a regular on my playlist for more than a decade now.

The longer I live and speak and write, the more I feel the weight of my dependence upon God to answer this request. I’ve discovered that this is a prayer I’ve grown into, not something I could ever grow out of. As long as I have breath, I will continue to ask for God’s blessing on my words.

May . . . The verse is a prayer. I am asking Jesus to do something for me that I cannot pull off by myself. Apart from him, my words and thoughts will deviate from righteousness. The prayer expresses the passion of my heart to please the heart of God.

. . . the words of my mouth . . . The average person speaks more than 7,000 words a day. In my line of work, which involves leading a team, speaking, and writing, my average likely exceeds 10,000. That’s a lot of talking. Jesus told us “the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart,” and on the day of judgment, “people will have to account for every careless word they speak” (Matt 12:34, 36). It’s not hard for careless words to tumble out of the heart and crush someone else’s spirit. I’ve been on both the receiving and giving end of careless words. I know my heart’s tendency toward self-justification, self-defense, and self-promotion. Self, self, self. For this reason, I need Psalm 19:14—a prayer that stands as a guard around my lips (Ps. 141:3).

. . . and the meditation of my heart . . . The psalmist anticipates the Savior, who pointed beyond mere words to the heart where sin is incubated. Meditation is a settled state of thought, like the alignment for the tires that keep a vehicle from drifting. It’s the default setting of the heart. Unless I pray for my heart’s deepest, default state to be pleasing to God, my heart drifts toward self-centered ways that give rise to selfish words and actions.

. . . be acceptable to you . . . Pleasing. Acceptable. I love the modesty of this prayer. It’s not a request for words that sparkle and shine. It doesn’t ask for deep thoughts that are brilliant or awe-inspiring. The focus isn’t on the power of the words and thoughts or how they might land on the ears of others; it’s on the pleasing and acceptable nature of the expression, and how they find favor with God. I’m not asking for a bestselling book. I’m not asking to be a world-renowned speaker. I’m not asking to be the best, to stand out or shine. The prayer is merely that my inner life and outer expression would be acceptable to the King who made me. That it would pass the test of acceptability and bring him joy.

. . . LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Here we have the reason why this prayer is uttered in the first place. The Lord is the sheltering rock, the one who protects us from ourselves. He is the Redeemer who delivers us from our sin, forgiving our careless words in the past and empowering us to speak life in the present. So many times, I’ve prayed this verse and then run away from its significance, falling prey to self-centered thoughts and words. But the prayer ends by acknowledging the character of God, upon whose mercy we fall, whose hands lift our heads and renew our eyes—our strength and our Savior.

And so, we pray for words of courage and conviction; words that express truth and grace; words that bring comfort and healing; words that never flatter or deceive, but always edify and exhort; words that reflect well the the character of our Rock and Redeemer.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/may-the-words/

5 Types of Gossiping People

Paul Tautges

“Every small bit of sinful gossip in daily life is an evil echo of what went wrong at the very beginning. In fact, gossip is the same ugly sin played out again and again. Gossip is believing the ancient lie that we can attempt to play God by destroying others with the power of our words. Gossip is not just breaking a rule; it is perversely living out Satan’s lies, which we would rather believe than the truth. And, therefore, we are attracted to the wrong stories.” As we return to our interaction with Matt Mitchell’s book, Resisting Gossip, these words summarize his answer to the question, “Why do we gossip?”

Part One of the book concludes with a chapter entitled, “A Gallery of Gossips.” Here the author defines the five different ways we gossip; that is, the types of gossiping people we may be or meet in daily life.

#1: The Spy – In Proverbs 11:13, the Hebrew word translated “gossip” means “‘a peddler (of secrets), a huckster/hawker, deceiver, or spy.’ The English Standard Version uses the phrase ‘whoever goes about slandering’….We might use the word ‘informer’….Spies know how to wheedle a story out of us.”

#2: The Grumbler – Another Hebrew word commonly translated “gossip” refers to a whisperer. The Hebrew dictionaries say that this “is one who is ‘murmuring about another person behind their back rather than openly complaining about their behavior.’”

#3: The Backstabber – “Backstabbing gossip overflows from a heart bent on revenge, retaliation and real malice. The backstabber actually desires the target of his gossip to experience pain. The backstabber usually begins by spreading lies, starting what we call a ‘smear campaign.’ Absalom was a backstabber.”

#4: The Chameleon – “A chameleon is a person who goes along with gossip to try to fit into the crowd….Fear, not anger, is the main motivation for a chameleon’s gossip. A chameleon is afraid of what her peers will think, say or do if she does not produce gossip on demand. She is usually afraid of being excluded.” The fear of man keeps her in this prison (Prov. 29:25).

#5: The Busybody – “The busybody is a person who is idle, not engaged in purposeful business and wants to be entertained. He gossips for titillation and for the purpose of living vicariously through the stories of others. A busybody enjoys meddling in other people’s business” (like the idle men described and rebuked in 2 Thess. 3:11).

Much fuller descriptions are given of these five kinds of gossips, heart diagnoses of what drives each, and biblical remedies. As we continue to work through Resisting Gossip, please consider reading and growing along with us.

Posted at: http://counselingoneanother.com/2019/07/26/5-types-of-gossiping-people/

Gratitude or Impurity

Jay Younts | Shepherd’s Press

Gratitude or impurity—you can have one but not both!  The language of the heart and mouth is an indication of the direction of the heart. People whose speech is dominated by a thankful spirit are often people who are grateful for the mercy extended to them by God.  However, impure, profane speech reflects just the opposite of gratitude.  This kind of talk frequently indicates an angry heart and movement towards the impure and profane. For example, the Ephesians had woven impure speech into the life of the church to the point where Paul addressed this issue specifically. Ephesians 5:4 describes the importance of gratitude.

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

In the first part of the verse, Paul directs that there should be no obscene, foolish talk or any coarse jesting. The Linguistic Key to the New Testament provides important definitions for these terms:

• Obscene talk: shameful, filthy or obscene speech

• Foolish talk: laughing at something without wit

• Coarse jesting: using humor to turn something neutral into something off-color. In other words, the Ephesians were masters of the art of double-entendre.

The language Paul condemns is a broader category than what we generally define as swearing. God has a higher standard for our speech than simply not swearing. What does the higher standard look like?

Paul says the put on response to impure speech is gratitude. He says that gratitude should dominate your speech, not the impure talk of the world. This contrast is striking. It is not simply replacing one set of words with another set of words. God wants your grateful heart. He wants your faithful, trusting heart. He wants your submissive, humble heart. When He has these things from you, profanity and even lust will not be an issue.

If your talk acknowledges that God has sovereign control over your life, and that He is working all things together for your good, you will express gratitude, not frustration or rebellion. 

If your everyday talk is ungrateful and complaining, you reflect the ungodly culture around you. If, on the other hand, your everyday talk expresses gratitude and joyful acceptance for God’s Providence, you will have no need for the kind of language described in Ephesians 5:4. Both your words and your attitudes will honor God, not defy Him.

The point is that if your speech is not dominated by gratitude then your words will mimic the world around you. You will unwittingly prepare your children to fall prey to the temptation of profanity, lust, and lack of gratitude. Without gratitude, there is no real defense against the ungrateful, self-pitying attitude that profanity represents. This is the message that Paul gave to the Ephesians. This is the message God wants you to give to your children.

Posted at: https://www.shepherdpress.com/gratitude-or-impurity/?fbclid=IwAR2huS-d6yGTlLMiG1SnMbAz7lnT2sXQXAvc_492EsSXdRdXeKBpn0plO2o