1 Peter 3:10 For he that will LOVE life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.
Oh Friends, unfortunately the summer holiday season is over now, and we’re all back to labour or school. Gone are those ‘lazy, hazy days of summer,’ and we’re bracing ourselves for the beautiful colours of autumn and the chilly winds it brings. But in whatever state we are, please remember that our God is ALWAYS right beside us, patiently waiting for us to ask His help. Don’t forget we’re in a partnership with the Lord, so we’ve got to ask, to reach out, or else we’ll miss out on a lot of stuff that was set aside for us. Jesus instructed us to: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Mat.7:7-8) It means my people, that much of what we receive on earth, depends entirely on us; how much and how sincerely we ask, seek and knock. Likewise, for those of us seeking to have a good, joyful, long life, there are also things we need to do, to bring that to fruition. Peter said: ‘Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from guile (deceit).’ Now here in verses 10-12, Peter is actually quoting Bruh David from Psalm 34; the Lord hears the righteous, verses 12-16. And the first thing we MUST DO my beautiful Friends in Christ is to rein in our tongues, that small but ‘tallawa’ (mighty, powerful) organ, which causes most of the problems in our lives, in fact in the entire world. Oh mih people, if we would only refrain our tongues from half of what we say, our world would be a much-improved place. Cousin Sol certainly recognized the tongue’s power when he declared: ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that LOVE it shall eat the fruit thereof.’ (Prov.18:21) Meanwhile, James describes it this way: ‘And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature (existence); and it is set on fire of hell.’ Yes my brethren, if we LOVE to use our tongue, to run off at the mouth, as the saying goes, then we’ll surely pay the price for any insensitive or foolish remarks. Jesus said it thus: ‘For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.’ (Mat.12;37) For sure my brethren, our mouths can either lift us up or break us down. Consequently, there are ample warnings in the Good Book, re that small, feisty piece of flesh. Hear Bruh Paul to the Ephesians: ‘Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.’ (Eph.4:25) Now that quote is taken from Zechariah, way back when the Lord promised the restoration of Jerusalem. Listen to His words. ‘These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgement of (for) truth and peace in your gates. And let none of you imagine (think) evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and LOVE no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.’ (Zech.8:16-17) There you have it Friends, straight from the Lord’s mouth! James then came later on and wisely proclaimed: ‘If any man among you seem to be (thinks he is) religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain (useless). Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’ (James 1:26-27) Oh Friends, that’s enough for us to contemplate for one day. Now please take all that we’ve said very seriously, for though it might sound frivolous, watching what we say is of dire importance, especially in these troublesome times, with the abundance of almost instantaneous and worldwide communicating devices. These potentially useful devices have sadly brought about even more talking than ever before in man’s history. And as I keep saying, the majority of us live boring, humdrum lives, so how much do we really have to talk about eh? And yet we yap a mile a minute! That obviously gets us to talking about things we shouldn’t and/or really don’t know about, meaning idle gossip and other people’s business. But again, please remember 3 Canal’s warning: ‘If you don’t have any business, then find some of yuh own. And stop minding other people’s.’ Nuff said mih Friends. Now one note of caution. All that we’ve said isn’t or won’t be easy to put into effect, but we definitely need to try hard to do it. And we’ll close with a word of encouragement from Epictetus, the Greek Stoic Philosopher (AD 55-AD 135). He reminds us that: ‘No great thing is created suddenly.’ And that’s gospel my brethren! Even our omnipotent God took six days to create the universe and all therein. We can’t shut up overnight, but with serious effort, with help from the Lord, we can improve substantially over time. So without further ado, let’s get to it nuh! It’s one of the biggest problems in our world. More tomorrow on the surrounding topics, God willing of course. Till then, please walk in peace and LOVE, and may the blessings of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, pour down on us all and keep us safe. Much LOVE!…God gave us two ears…and only ONE mouth…because He wanted us to hear…at least…twice as much as we spoke…
Oh Friends, unfortunately the summer holiday season is over now, and we’re all back to labour or school. Gone are those ‘lazy, hazy days of summer,’ and we’re bracing ourselves for the beautiful colours of autumn and the chilly winds it brings. But in whatever state we are, please remember that our God is ALWAYS right beside us, patiently waiting for us to ask His help. Don’t forget we’re in a partnership with the Lord, so we’ve got to ask, to reach out, or else we’ll miss out on a lot of stuff that was set aside for us. Jesus instructed us to: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Mat.7:7-8) It means my people, that much of what we receive on earth, depends entirely on us; how much and how sincerely we ask, seek and knock. Likewise, for those of us seeking to have a good, joyful, long life, there are also things we need to do, to bring that to fruition. Peter said: ‘Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from guile (deceit).’ Now here in verses 10-12, Peter is actually quoting Bruh David from Psalm 34; the Lord hears the righteous, verses 12-16. And the first thing we MUST DO my beautiful Friends in Christ is to rein in our tongues, that small but ‘tallawa’ (mighty, powerful) organ, which causes most of the problems in our lives, in fact in the entire world. Oh mih people, if we would only refrain our tongues from half of what we say, our world would be a much-improved place. Cousin Sol certainly recognized the tongue’s power when he declared: ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that LOVE it shall eat the fruit thereof.’ (Prov.18:21) Meanwhile, James describes it this way: ‘And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature (existence); and it is set on fire of hell.’ Yes my brethren, if we LOVE to use our tongue, to run off at the mouth, as the saying goes, then we’ll surely pay the price for any insensitive or foolish remarks. Jesus said it thus: ‘For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.’ (Mat.12;37) For sure my brethren, our mouths can either lift us up or break us down. Consequently, there are ample warnings in the Good Book, re that small, feisty piece of flesh. Hear Bruh Paul to the Ephesians: ‘Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.’ (Eph.4:25) Now that quote is taken from Zechariah, way back when the Lord promised the restoration of Jerusalem. Listen to His words. ‘These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgement of (for) truth and peace in your gates. And let none of you imagine (think) evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and LOVE no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.’ (Zech.8:16-17) There you have it Friends, straight from the Lord’s mouth! James then came later on and wisely proclaimed: ‘If any man among you seem to be (thinks he is) religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain (useless). Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’ (James 1:26-27) Oh Friends, that’s enough for us to contemplate for one day. Now please take all that we’ve said very seriously, for though it might sound frivolous, watching what we say is of dire importance, especially in these troublesome times, with the abundance of almost instantaneous and worldwide communicating devices. These potentially useful devices have sadly brought about even more talking than ever before in man’s history. And as I keep saying, the majority of us live boring, humdrum lives, so how much do we really have to talk about eh? And yet we yap a mile a minute! That obviously gets us to talking about things we shouldn’t and/or really don’t know about, meaning idle gossip and other people’s business. But again, please remember 3 Canal’s warning: ‘If you don’t have any business, then find some of yuh own. And stop minding other people’s.’ Nuff said mih Friends. Now one note of caution. All that we’ve said isn’t or won’t be easy to put into effect, but we definitely need to try hard to do it. And we’ll close with a word of encouragement from Epictetus, the Greek Stoic Philosopher (AD 55-AD 135). He reminds us that: ‘No great thing is created suddenly.’ And that’s gospel my brethren! Even our omnipotent God took six days to create the universe and all therein. We can’t shut up overnight, but with serious effort, with help from the Lord, we can improve substantially over time. So without further ado, let’s get to it nuh! It’s one of the biggest problems in our world. More tomorrow on the surrounding topics, God willing of course. Till then, please walk in peace and LOVE, and may the blessings of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, pour down on us all and keep us safe. Much LOVE!…God gave us two ears…and only ONE mouth…because He wanted us to hear…at least…twice as much as we spoke…
SCRIP-BITS 