SATURDAY EDITORIAL

What Your Speech Says About You

By Bishop E. Earl Jenkins

You can try to disguise your identity by changing your looks, your social circle and your address -- but how you speak will give you away every time.

It happened to Peter. When a servant girl saw him warming himself by the fire, she said, "'You...were with Jesus of Nazareth.' But he denied it...And the...girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, 'This is one of them.' But he denied it again...later those who stood by said to Peter again...'you are one of them...your speech shows it'" (Mk 14:67-70 NKJV). So in order to convince his accusers that he wasn't a friend of Jesus, Peter "began to curse and swear, 'I do not know this Man of whom you speak'" (Mk 14:71 NKJV).

It worked! After that nobody else accused him of knowing Jesus. Isn't it interesting how public profanity, in any language, has a way of making others question the quality of your relationship with Christ?

Paul says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up...that it may benefit those who listen" (Eph 4:29 NIV). If you want to win people to Jesus, start with how you talk. Paul said, "Let your speech always be with grace...that you may know how you ought to answer each one" (Col 4:6 NKJV).

Words are powerful things. They either build up or tear down, add to or take from.

It's not important that people can tell from your accent where you're from, but when they can't tell by the way you talk that you're Christ's disciple, something's seriously wrong.

Scripture Of The Day: "Let your speech always be with grace...that you may know how you ought to answer each one." - Col 4:6 (NKJV)

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