How can we gain control
of our tongues? Only
by submitting our minds and hearts to Christ. We speak what we
think. Therefore, if the Lord Jesus is to be magnified in the
way we use our tongue, He must be magnified in the way we use
our mind also. Paul writes of Christians “casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Paul knew that
there could be no purity of speech apart from a genuine purification
of our minds. The Lord Jesus also taught this truth when He said,
“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”
(Matthew 12:34). If our hearts are daily surrendered to the Lordship
of Christ, we will be meditating upon His Word and cleansed by
that Word (Psalm
119:9, Ephesians 5:25-27)—and
as a result, we will
seek to be a sympathetic encouragement to other believers, rather
than participating in backbiting
and gossip about others. See Ephesians
4:29.