Beautiful Lips

Lately I’ve run across quite a few passages in the Bible that talk about our mouths. I think the Lord is trying to tell me something. The truth is God cares about our lips. He desires for our mouths to be filled with praise for Him and encouragement for others. We must ask ourselves, are we allowing uplifting, encouraging words to flow from our lips or are we delivering unkind, discouraging or even gossiping words from our mouth? Here are a few words from the Bible concerning our mouths and using them for good purposes:
Psalm 71:15 “My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, or your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. “
Psalm 34:1 “I will extol the Lord at all times, His praise will continually be on my lips.”
Psalm 34:12, 13 “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking lies.”
Ephesians 4: 29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
James 3 also gives us a strong admonishment about the words that come out of our mouths. You may want to take a moment later today to read James 3:1 - 12
Actually, our words are an overflow of what is in our heart. If we are angry, bitter or harboring unforgiveness it will spill out into our words. But if we fill our hearts and minds with thankfulness, forgiveness and praise, our words bring glory to God and are a blessing to others. We have a choice each day as to how we will use our mouths, for good or for destruction. What will you choose? Begin each day abiding in Christ and letting His words flow into your heart, and you will have sincere and beautiful words flow from your lips.

Family Fun: Talk with your kids about the importance of the words they say. Remind them that words are powerful and can be used to build up others, but they can also be used to hurt others. Share the Bible verses above. Also tell them our words are an overflow of what is in our hearts and so it is important for us to get rid of bitterness and anger through forgiving others (as Christ has forgiven us). Encourage your kids to start each day with thankfulness and praise toward God. To illustrate how our words spill over from what is in our heart use the following demonstration. Take two clear water glasses; fill one with water and one with vinegar (or lemon juice). Put a little food coloring in with the vinegar or lemon juice. Place both glasses on paper towels on your kitchen counter. Now carefully slosh both glasses, allow a little of the contents to spill out onto the paper towels. Talk about the water representing our good words, pure and life-giving. Our good words quench a person’s thirst to feel loved and appreciated. On the other hand, the colored liquid represents our unkind words which sting and are filled with bitterness and hurt. It is very difficult to remove the stain which comes from hurtful words, for the pain lingers. Remind your kids (and yourself for that matter) we have a choice as to what we will allow to flow from our lips. We all want beautiful lips with lovely words flowing from the heart!