Daily Devotional April 2 - Whose vocabulary do you follow, your flesh or your spirit?

"He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction." Proverbs 13:3

Look, you think you are a good person and overall you are, but don't disregard the words of wisdom from Solomon. If you are mouthy and have a difficult time expressing your wishes unless you yell or say some demeaning thing, think about the consequences of your actions. The words you speak and the intonation of those words has a lot to say about you as a person.

This is something you can rectify. You have within you power over your own mouth. Do you want to yield to your baser instincts or rise to newer and higher thinking? What you think and what you speak have a great deal to do with who you are and where you are today. But even if you like the way things are and even if it doesn't bother you if you speak abruptly or disrespectfully to your children or your spouse, you might not like the long-term results of such actions.

Your spouse, children and friends were made by God to hear in their hearing every good and worthy word you can muster up. They were designed to respond to the sounds of the indwelling Holy Spirits voice being uttered through a willing vessel. They were designed to be built up and encouraged by the words you speak and the thoughts you think. I know I don't want to be responsible speaking trash into the hearts and minds of those I love.

This is a war between the spirit and the flesh. Your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak. Your spirit seeks and desires the higher things of God, while you flesh seeks the baser things, the lesser things and ultimately death. Your spirit has within it the vocabulary of God, while your flesh has within it a very limited and sometimes degrading lexicon. Yes this will require some energy and some hard work and some sacrifice, but doesn't everything of value cost something?