WISDOM ON THE LIPS

In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth – Proverbs 10: 19-20

“It is wise to be brief, to say as little as possible to others and as much as possible to God. “Many words are meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:7).

Too much talk weakens our character. It’s like the continuous running of a faucet that empties a well. Talking leaves no time to commune with ourselves and with God.

“Silence is the mother of the wisest thoughts,” said Diadochus, an early Christian writer. Our thoughts mature in quiet moments. If we’re always talking, we give no opportunity for our hearts to receive the promptings of the Spirit; we can’t hear what others are saying and we can’t hear what the Spirit wants us to say.

Furthermore, we can’t be talking all the time without saying things that cause us regret. We talk too much about ourselves or too much about others. Our words coerce, contaminate, and offend our friends.

How often have I walked away from meetings with a bad taste in my mouth…thinking, “I should have left some things unsaid.”

“When words are many, sin is not absent” (Proverbs 10:19), a verse which Augustine said “frightens me a great deal.” It frightens me a great deal as well.

“Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Proverbs 29:20). The one who is hasty – who always has to say something – usually doesn’t consult God at all. He already knows what’s best for any situation. He can act on his own. “Such a man,” says Fenelon, “is the greatest fool in the world.”