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The best use we can make of our tongue is to pray. Ask the Lord each day to help you speak good and not evil.
Our tongue is a very small part of our body. It is a gift from God, and with it we are to praise and bless God. We can also help others with it. Each day at school your teacher speaks to you and teaches you through the use of her tongue. Each Sunday the minister’s tongue is used by God to teach us the way of salvation. Your mother and father use their tongues each day to tell you they love you, to teach you who God is, who we are, and how w may be saved in Jesus Christ. God has given us a tongue so that we may pray to Him, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13).
Now all these are good ways to use our tongue, but there is also an evil way which we use far too often. The Bible tells us that our tongue is like a deadly poison. We often sin with it. When we tease a classmate or whisper something unkind about our teacher to a friend, we are speaking evil. We also sin at home when we fight with our brothers and sisters and call each other names. This is not keeping our tongue from evil. Have there also been times when we have lied to our father and mother? Perhaps your mother has asked you if you were the one who took the candy out of the cupboard, and you may have quickly said “No,” which you knew was a lie. Does it bother you that sin slips easily off of our tongue, even though God commands us to keep our tongue from evil?
Many people use God’s name wrongly when they become angry. They use God’s name without reverence or respect, and even curse. This is terrible. Children, never do this. God is a holy God. We must only use God’s name in prayer or when we are speaking with reverence and respect about our Creator.
A large ship is turned by the wheel or helm in the captain’s hand. If he turns the helm the wrong way, the ship can be in danger. Right turns of the wheel, however, can steer the ship safely into the harbor. Our tongue is like that wheel. If we use our tongue to speak evil, it can lead us or others into great danger, but when we use our tongue to speak well, it can do others and ourselves good.
The best use we can make of our tongue is to pray. Ask the Lord each day to help you speak good and not evil.
Excerpt from
God’s Alphabet for Life: Devotions for Young Children
by Joel R. Beeke and Heidi Boorsma
