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I recently wrote about when to speak and when to be silent.
There is another important component to speaking.
Who do you want to speak for you?
Many people get carried away by the emotions of a great speaker or being part of an enthusiastic crowd. They begin to feel the speaker is speaking for them.
It is easy to zero in on what we agree with and miss some very concerning things they are saying.
I am constantly amazed at how tv advertisements for drugs skillfully mix the good and bad in the hopes we will come away believing their drug is all good.
After telling us the good things, we see smiling, happy people while in the background, they tell us all the awful things that could happen to you if you took this drug!😱
Perhaps speakers should have the same warnings accompanying them. If you believe what they are saying, be aware that while you may get something good, there may also be “side effects.”
Satan is a master at mixing Truth and lies. He has long known the way to get his hooks into people is to lure them with the attractive bait of a little bit of truth.
And satan takes it up a couple of notches beyond that. Besides mixing truth with lies, satan tries to package his offer as something the people want and something that will make them feel powerful.
Remember his final desert offering to Jesus was to give Him power. Of course, Jesus already had more power than satan could ever hope to have. So Jesus did not bite.
Satan repeatedly tried to lure Jesus by quoting scripture to Him. But Jesus knew better. He knew God’s Word, but more than that, He knew God’s Heart. So He knew when God’s Word was being used in the right way and when it wasn’t.
We should be “fact checking” those who are speaking. But, in order to fact check, we must first know the facts ourselves.
We must know God’s Word, but we also must know God. When we know him, we will instantly recognize His Voice over all the other voices.
When we know Him, we will be better able to tell whether the ones we hear speaking really line up with Him.
God is so awesomely big, it will take a lifetime and beyond to know Him. But He made the first revelation of Who He is simple. God is Love.
John summed it up this way.
Beloved, let us love one another, for Love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is Love.
1 John 4:7-8
Listen carefully to those communicating with you in whatever way. Do you see, hear and feel God’s Love?
And beyond that, do others see, hear and feel God’s Love when they receive communication from you?
Jesus said,
“A good person brings good things out of the good stored up in them, and an evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in them.
But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.
For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:35-37
So be careful with your words.
Listen carefully to the words of others.
Most importantly, listen to God’s Words! His Words are always true and can be trusted!
