MIND YOUR SPEECH
MIND YOUR SPEECH Why must we mind our speech? Speaking too much interferes with thinking deeply, it interfers with listening enough, and it diminishes the value of our words. Benjamin Franklin was therefore on the ball when he said, “He who speaks much is much mistaken.” “Too much” is not so much determined by how much we say as by how much we are supposed to say. It is certainly a mark of wisdom to utter the right words in their right quantity at the right time. The ability to speak succinctly is one of a leader’s precious assets. No wonder the first area in which a leader is to be an example is in speech. “…be thou an example of the believers, in word…” 1 Timothy 4:12 Our words expose the condition of our hearts and the pattern of our thoughts. That’s why talking right begins with thinking right. There is perhaps, however, a more important reason why we should mind our speech. “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give ac...