"Woe is me for I am undone!  Because I am a man of unclean lips
      And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; 
      For my eyes have seen the King,  the LORD of Hosts."   Isaiah 6:5

Isaiah was in a state of desperation here as he had gazed upon a holy God and become acutely aware of the many terrible things he had spoken during the course of his lifetime. The sudden realization that words can be a powerful weapon of destruction. In the New Testament, James reiterates this when he declares:

" But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.". James 3:8-12

Since Scripture is so clear that we are to exercise care when we speak to others, why do we continue to utter unkind words, often to even those whom we love? Two things immediately come to mind. Lack of discipline and inadequate quality time with God.

The two are not mutually exclusive because to spend time with God takes discipline. In fact, spending time with God does not even take time. It ONLY takes discipline. One can have all the time in the world, but if lacking discipline, it gets frittered away, lost forever. On the other hand, time spent with God, even if just a few minutes, is more than made up for by the end of the day. And the fruit is boundless, part of which is being able to tame the tongue.

The more time one spends with God, the more His voice becomes discernible. For instance, you can learn some details about someone by conversing through email, but until you meet, you will not come to know that person. A quick cup of coffee shared occasionally is better, but unless you begin to regularly spend quality time together, you cannot get to know one another.

Quality time with God teaches a person how to recognize His voice and the promptings of the Holy Spirit at such times that He might be suggesting that you curb your tongue. Lack of discipline factors in when we realize that our tongues are heading for trouble but we fail to stop them.

The question as to why Christians say hurtful things, may also be answered in part, that they simply do not know any better. Isaiah himself was unaware of his folly until his "eyes saw the KING, he Lord of Hosts.". This underscores the importance of spending quality time with God.

I remember when my daughter uttered her fist naughty word. To a young child, it was just a word like any other. It was my responsibility as a parent to admonish her, and thus she gained an understanding that certain words were inappropriate. The same is true for baby Christians. We remain babies so long as we neglect to spend time with God. Fifty years of regular church attendance is no better than a series of the aforementioned emails, if we neglect our time with God. The words which spring forth from our mouths are a product of the thoughts of our minds, which cannot possibly be renewed without spending time with the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul referred to this when he stated that eventually we need to grow up and have more than just baby milk in our spiritual diets. And believe me, there is no such thing as fast food when it comes to the spirit. Or as Joyce Meyer so aptly puts it "you can't get a drive thru breakthrough."

I am sure you are wondering what my last couple of posts have to do with living with MS. Well, I am too. I will share that with you as soon as i figure it out. But for now, suffice it to say that our minds, bodies and spirits are inextricably connected. So too are our thoughts, words and deeds.