“I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, so
that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they [the
nation of Israel] are a rebellious house. But when I speak to you, I will open up your mouth and you will say to
them, “Thus says the Lord God…” – Ezekiel 3:26-27a
Ezekiel was chosen to be God’s mouth but was fully capable
of misrepresenting Him, as all humans are. God realized this and out of grace
caused Ezekiel to be physically unable to speak words that were not from Him.
Don’t Christians also have the honor of being God’s mouth?
Don’t we have the responsibility to represent God with every word that we
utter?
Yes, we’ve heard not to lie, gossip or condemn others, but
have we gone further than that and decided not to let a single word pass from
our lips that is not from God?
Upon giving our lives to Christ we surrendered our entire
body to Him. Our mouths are no exception. Because they are not our own, every
word that comes from our lips should be worthy enough for God to take complete ownership
of. God has asked us to be vessels, empty of self and full of Him. Adding
worldliness to God’s words diminishes the authority and power He instilled in
them.
This is much easier said than done…. In fact, in this light Ezekiel’s
physical impediment sounds more like a blessing than a hardship. Coming from
someone who is constantly surrounded by gossip, slander and
flirtatious words, it is hard to
remember that I’m representing Christ and that His words not mine should be
spoken. Many times even in a Christian circle, these activities may seem harmless if not
taken too far. This week God has been opening my eyes to how important
speech really is. The way we speak is a huge part of who we are and it’s how we
communicate to others. That sentence in itself holds a key problem: we. Our
lives should not be about us – there should not be a “we” or an “I”; only a
HIM. Words are such a practical way to die to self and the more we take every
opportunity to say no to our flesh and yes to the Holy Spirit, the closer we
are to exchanging all that we are for all that He is.
“Because Your love is
better than life my lips will glorify You” - Psalm 63:3
God’s love truly is better than life and far exceeds earthly
and human words, the only ones we have to offer. Let us remember that others do not need our
words. Our words cannot comfort, cannot heal, cannot encourage, cannot help and
cannot love but God’s words can do all
that and much more!
“If You love Me, keep
My commandments…” - John 14:15
My friends we do not do this because it is easy or because
we want to…We do this because we love Him. We do this because He has asked us
to. Let us spend time cultivating a relationship with Him where only His words
leave our lips. He will give us grace when we ask and the more we speak God’s
words, the more we can experience that His love truly is better than life and
things in this world!
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