I Will Not Talk

I have always been a talker.  I believe that came naturally.  I had a bad speech impediment as a child and I believe the humor came to try to compensate for it.  Who knows?  An armchair psychologist is a dangerous thing...so is a boy with a big mouth.  Big mouths make your hands hurt...at least when I was in school.  I have clear memories of having to write "I will not talk." for homework numerous times.  I learned the art of the two pencil, two line trick.  (I also found that wrestling two pencils actually takes longer.)  The "I, I, I, I, I, I, will, will, will, will, not, not, not, not, not, talk, talk, talk, talk..." procedure is the quickest.  However, every two years there was some smart teacher that liked long sentences like "Due to causing a hindrance in the teaching and training of the classroom, I realize my inappropriate and untimely talking will not benefit me or the class, therefore I will no longer talk when it is not beneficial to do so."  (Teachers, I just made that up, but you can borrow it.)  The only good news about such a sentence is that I only had to do it 25 times instead of the typical 500 for "I must not talk."
The tongue and its talk will get you in trouble.  Corinth had trouble with the tongue.  Actually, they had trouble with tongues, but it does not take a charismatic outburst for the tongue to cause trouble in the church.  It can be a tremendous problem when we speak words of our native language.   When speaking of the tongue and the inappropriate action from it, Paul said in I Corinthians 14:12- So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. (www.lifejournal.cc) What we say should build up the church.  If you really want the Spirit to move in the church, don't say things that will be a hindrance.  There is nothing I want more for the church than for the Spirit of God to have full rule and reign everytime we come together.  Let nothing I say nor we say ever get in the way of the Spirit's movement building up the church.   Watch what you say today!  For most of us the consequences will be much greater than having to write!  Remember, slow to speak and quick to listen.  Have a great day!