When You Say Something You Regret
Do you sometimes say things you regret? Or become frustrated because people get offended or take things wrong?
In preparation for our women’s ministry study on James 3, I was listening to one of my favourite preachers – Pastor Dave Rolph from our church in California.
The passage was about the power of words, and he said something that hit me like a sledgehammer!
“The tongue in a sense is really nerve central for who we are… What we say is a more faithful and telling indicator of who we are than anything else. Most of us spend our time apologising for things that we said because we are pretending that’s really not who we are.”
Wow, that’s true isn’t it! I have spent much time apologising for things I said, usually involving teasing, and trying to convince the other person that I didn’t mean what they thought I meant.
But maybe I actually did mean it, and that’s why they were so offended – because that’s who I really am and it came out.
‘Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.’
Matthew 15:18
So next time you say something that you have to apologise for, try searching your heart to find out where it came from. Maybe your heart and attitude need to change? And I’m going to try and do the same!
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. James 3:5-6
