God designed every part of the body to be used for special and specific purposes. Apart from helping us taste and swallow food, the tongue is a part of the body that God has set apart for two unique purposes. Our tongue is for praising God and for releasing blessings. James 3:19 tells us that it is with our tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and that it should be blessings not curses that proceed from our tongue.
One of the most common health symptoms people experience are headaches and fever. Have you noticed how doctors check our tongues when we go to the hospital to complain about these symptoms? The reason for this is that our tongue can be a clue to so many things happening inside our body. God’s Word also shows how our tongue can affect our physical and spiritual health and also the health and well-being of other people. For instance, Proverbs 15:4 makes us understand that while some people have soothing, wholesome, and healthy tongues, some other people have harmful and unhealthy tongues. “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4 mentions two types of tongues: the wholesome tongue that brings comfort and encouragement to others, and the perverse tongue that weakens and demoralizes others. One tongue nourishes and builds up; the other negatively affects a person’s state of mind.
Matthew 15:11 states that it is “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” People get contaminated; people are polluted by the “harmful substances” that come out of their mouth, not by what they swallow in their mouth.
What we say probably affects a person more than any other action we take. Our words can be used for either building up or tearing down, healing wounds or creating scars, killing dreams or fulfilling destinies. Proverbs 12:18 tells us that “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Proverbs 26:22 further states that “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” What kind of words are we known for? What purpose is our tongue fulfilling? Are we using our words to cause emotional damage and accidents, to wound and pierce others?
Let’s always be mindful of the fact that people all over are struggling with different kinds of fears, pains, insecurities, and weaknesses. The words we speak matter a great deal. They could make a person either give up in despair or move on to achieve great things and maximize their potentials. This is why we need to yield our tongues to God for consecration and cleansing, so the words we speak build and not scatter, so we become sources of joy and blessings, for that’s what God created our tongues to do.
In some cases, it is even our own selves that have become victims of the bashing and piercing of our tongues. We make negative and careless statements about ourselves with our tongue. Statements like “I can’t make it,” “I won’t survive this,” “I’m a failure,” “I’m not good enough,” “I’m so ugly,” “I’m so useless.” We speak death instead of life, words that kill instead of words that give hope and life, words that are contrary to what God says about us in His Word (Proverbs 18:21).
Proverbs 12:14 says that “A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man’s hands will be rendered to him.” God has put so much power in our tongue. We are not to misuse and abuse this power. We are to use our tongues to fill our lives with good and pleasant things, not use our tongues to open up our lives and homes to problems and calamity. The fruit of our mouth should be blessings, words that will make God’s blessings come upon us and overtake us. Words like “I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I shall live and not die; I shall live to declare the works of the Lord. Though my beginning is small, my latter end would increase abundantly. I and the children the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders.”
Above all, God should be honored and glorified with the fruit of our lips. For as long as we have breath in us, we should use our tongue to praise God (Psalm 150:6). When we open our mouth, it should be to show forth God’s praise; to speak and testify of the goodness and mercy of God (Psalm 51:15). God delights in our praises, not in our complaining and grumbling, not in our gossiping, cursing, and abusing, not in our taking upon ourselves the praise and glory due to God.
Using our tongue rightly, using our tongue to praise God, can do us a world of good. Praise lifts up our spirit; it drives sadness, discouragement, and depression away (Psalm 43:5). Praise sends confusion into the camp of our enemies (2 Chronicles 20:22). Praise releases us from every prison where the enemy has locked up our glory and destiny (Acts 16:25-26). A life of praise shows that we understand what we were created for; we understand the value and purpose of our tongue, which is to give God pleasure (Revelation 4:11).
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