Say Less

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“I’m resolved to become a man of my word.”

That’s what he told me, and I said, “That’s great!  I have one piece of advice for you.”

“What’s that?” he said.

“Say less.”

He laughed, probably because he knows he’s a big talker!

Big talkers often have a problem keeping their word.

The more you say, the harder it is to keep track of it all.

So here is one huge piece of advice if you want to do better at keeping your word.

Say less.

In Matthew 5:37 Jesus said, “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’  Anything more than this comes from evil.”

In other words…stop babbling!

James 5:12 also says to let your yes be yes and your no be no, then adds, “…lest you fall into judgment.”

Ecclesiastes 5:4 talks about the importance of keeping your word, and it says, “…for God has no pleasure in fools.”

Do you ever add things to your words like, “I will, I promise”? Or worse, “I swear to God.”

Listen, you should never have to add anything like that to your words, because your word alone says it all.  If you have to add to it, you are already ruined.  They don’t believe you, and you don’t believe you.  And God has no pleasure in fools.

So one way to do better at keeping your word is:  say less.

If you say less, you will commit to fewer things, making it much more likely that you will actually do all the things you say you will do.  Fewer things are easier to remember.

Proverbs 10:19 says, “When words are many, sin is unavoidable.”  The more you talk, the more likely you are to sin.  

It’s like a water tap.  Open it a little and you have complete control of it.  You can fill a cup perfectly to the top and not spill a drop.  That’s like keeping your word perfectly.  You have it under control.

But open up that water tap all the way and you lose control.  And for some people, their mouth is like a loose fire hose!  Have you ever seen a loose fire hose that is out of control?  It’s flopping here and there and if you get near it you are going to get hurt.

And if you get near someone whose mouth is a firehose…you are going to get hurt.

And if YOUR mouth is the firehose, you are going to hurt people, and you probably already know that full well.

Psalm 141:3 is a very powerful prayer, and it’s so good I’m going to give it to you from multiple translations.

The King James says, “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.”

The New King James says, “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth…”

The NLT says, “Take control of what I say, O LORD…”

This is a wonderful goal, to get your mouth under control.  You want to become a man or a woman of your word.  When you say something, people can count on it.

And here is one major tip for keeping your word.

Say less.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.