Cows have skinny feet.
Well, hooves, but skinny feet, nonetheless. It’s the reason cattle guards work. After all, people can walk across them easily. Cars drive past, with a familiar thrumming as our tires thump on the pipes that form a bridge between the gateposts.
How does it work? The pipes are just far enough apart that cows feel they’ll fall through, but close enough there’s no real danger. The cows don’t know the difference, and they won’t cross the danger zone.
We need a cattle word guard on our tongues. Oh, you caught that marked-out word, did you? Our words try to slip out, bellowing and braying things we should never say. Our word guard for our tongue comes in the form of our Lord’s powerful hand.
Psalm 141:3-4 instructs us:
“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!”
Our guard over our words is vital, because what comes out of our mouths reflects what’s in our hearts. Yes, that’s right. If we think it, it will find its way out.
So how does our mouth guard work? Does it fit over our lips, or is there a better place to install it?
“Do not let my heart incline to any evil... [or] busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity...”
We become like the people we spend time with. We change to mimic them. Then who we become flows out through our words, right through the open gate of our mouth.
Evil thoughts have skinny feet. So do wicked deeds. Christ is our word guard, and he works to protect us when we spend time in our Bible and in prayer to him.
We clean up our lives when we stand next to Christ... and remain next to Christ... and live like Christ... and let him be our first consideration in every choice we make.
Copyright © 2017 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.J.18.16c.vp.esv