Words of Grace

God has been directing my attention to the connection between the words I speak and grace.

Matthew 12:35-37

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

I am not a person of grace by nature. I by nature don’t have a lot of mercy. That truth comes out for the most part in my words. In the Matthew passage, we are warned that God will hold us accountable for every careless word we speak. Careless words are words that are useless, barren, or idle. They are words that don’t produce positive spiritual fruit in our lives or in other’s lives.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear it.”

The oppose of careless words are words that build up. The thing that allows my words to be building up, words that produce positive spiritual fruit, and not careless words, words that don’t produce positive spiritual fruit, is grace.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing grace to produce words that build up, not careless words.

The result of careless words is condemnation of ourselves. Words that are careless reflect the ungrace in my own life. Words that are careless don’t help others to know Jesus and experience His grace or grow in grace to be more like Jesus.

When we condemn people, we speak careless words.

When we tell people they are worthless, we speak careless words.

When we lie to people, we speak careless words.

When we try to control people with our words, we speak careless words.

When we try to just win an argument, we speak careless words.

Grace allows our words to be words that give life.

In John 6:68 Peter says that Jesus has the words of eternal life.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking words that lead to eternal life.

When our words are careless, they grieve the Holy Spirit according to Ephesians 4:30. The Holy Spirit draws people to the person of Jesus. He testifies to the truth that Jesus is the one and only Son of God. When we speak careless words that don’t come from grace, that drives people away from Jesus and that brings great sorrow to the Holy Spirit.

Our words are not to be:

Bitter

Wrathful

Angry

Hate Filled

Slanderous

Colossians 4:6 says that our speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Careless words are not gracious.

Carless words are not seasoned with salt.

Careless words don’t allow us to, with godly wisdom, answer what others want to know (because they won’t dare to ask)

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking words of grace that draw people to Jesus.

The struggle I had was how to allow God’s grace to do away with my careless words and replace them with words of grace that build up.

The answer I found was in Ephesians 4:32. It says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” The phrase “as God in Christ forgave you” spoke to me. God was saying to me that He had forgiven me even though I did not deserve it. God had forgiven me unconditionally. God had forgiven the second I asked (He had actually provided the means of my forgiveness before I asked). I didn’t have to beg Jesus to forgive me, I just had to ask. When I was reminded of how God had forgiven me, then how could I not forgive in the same way and how could I not speak words of life and grace to others? No person will ever sin against me to the depth that I have sinned against God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking words of grace and forgiveness to others.

With Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                    Joe