The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Prov. 12:18
Gracious Jesus, we love words. We especially love the way you use words to bring us healing, freedom, and hope. You never shame us or defame us with words. You never manipulate or flatter us with words. You never repeat our failures to others; you only bring our sin and brokenness to the your throne of grace, where they are buried in the sea of your redeeming love.
You never say too much or too little. You neither mince, dice nor waste words. Lord Jesus, you alone have the words of eternal life, and you constantly speak them to our hearts. How grateful we are; how dependent we are on the constancy of your grace-salted words.
Our prayer is simple yet ever so necessary and daily: grant us a greater gospel-stewardship of our words. As you speak to us, please speak through us, Lord Jesus. We are painfully aware that our words can bring great harm and death (Prov. 18:21). Indeed, if we’re not careful, our words can pillage the soft tissues of the heart like gangrene (Eph. 4:29). Forgive us, Lord Jesus, even as recent conversations come to mind in which we have brought unnecessary harm.
You tell us that our words are a sure reflection of what’s filling our heart: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). So no mere promise to avoid gossip, idle chatter, reckless words, or coarse jesting will be enough. We must constantly be preaching the gospel to ourselves, filling our hearts with your beauty and bounty, Lord Jesus.
May the overflow of your grace in our hearts be obvious to all, as we seek to build others up, not tear them down. Even when we have to have difficult conversations, may the truth, grace and power of the gospel be evident. We want our tongues to be a scalpel for healing, Jesus, not a hammer for harm. We humbly pray in your merciful and mighty name. Amen.