Your Tongue Is A Weapon Or A Tool. Choose.

Some men think criticism is a spiritual gift. It isn't.

There's a difference between speaking truth in love and just being harsh and calling it discernment. I've known people who could tear a brother's character apart in five minutes flat, never once asking if what they said needed saying, or if it needed to come from them, in that tone, in front of everyone.

Ephesians 4:29 doesn't leave much room for that. "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." Every word out of your mouth toward a brother or sister is either building something or tearing something down.

Proverbs 12:18 says: "There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health." A sword and a bandage don't do the same work. Pick one.

Correction still has its place. Galatians 6:1 says to restore a brother caught in a fault, but it also says to do it "in the spirit of meekness," watching yourself the whole time so you don't fall into the same trap. Meekness. Not a hot mic and an audience.

We are told to edify one another, not just tolerate one another. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 puts it simply: "comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."

Before you speak to a brother today, ask yourself if your words will leave him stronger or smaller. If you can't build him up, you might not need to speak at all.

Pastor Fortunato
Founding Pastor & Preacher of the Word.
Pilgrim Baptist Church — Cookeville, Tennessee

https://pilgrimbaptist.church/
https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/pilgrimbaptist/