Day 9 – Is Your Mouth an Open Grave? – Julie Earl
Romans 3:10-18
In this passage, Paul quotes from the book of Psalms and reiterates the fact that none of us are righteous on our own. He explains later in Romans 3 that we are made righteous through faith in Jesus (which we’ll discuss in tomorrow’s blog). But I’d like to look at Paul’s quote from Psalms and see what we can learn about the power of the tongue.
“What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Even as believers, we can see these behaviors start to seep into our lives when our eyes are “turned away” (verse 12) from Jesus. That is why it is vital to fix our eyes on Jesus and fall more deeply in love with Him by staying in His presence all day every day, loving Him and allowing Him to love us.
When we focus on the world and all the junk, trials and problems swirling around us, we begin to reflect the world rather than reflect Jesus in our attitudes and words.
“Their throats are open graves” (verse 13).
Picture an open grave with dead things and bones flying out of the grave. It’s totally disgusting and people would be running as fast as they could to get away from it. Now picture your throat – your mouth. Are there ever words of death and bones flying out of it to your spouse, your kids or even strangers when you’re driving in rush-hour traffic? Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Every word that comes out of your mouth is either hurting or healing. It’s either bringing life, encouragement and love, or death, discouragement and harm – to you and everyone around you.
Verses 13 through 16 go on to say, “The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness…ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want poison, cursing, bitterness and misery to be spewing out of my mouth – even in the little things! I want to walk in the way of peace.
How do we walk in the way of peace? Verse 18 is the key. We must live in reverential fear and awe of God! God’s not mean, so we don’t fear Him in that sense, but He is amazing in His love and justice, and everything He asks us to do is for our good. The more time we spend talking to Him, reading His words of love, praising Him in the midst of hard times and saying yes to his loving will for our lives, the more we stand in awe of His love and grace. Experiencing God’s love and grace makes it so much easier for us to express His love and grace.
The next time your kids are whining, your spouse leaves dirty clothes on the floor or someone cuts you off in traffic, take a moment to fix your eyes on Jesus and stand in awe of His goodness – and watch Him transform your attitude and your words from death to life!
Many blessings!
Julie Earl with Crazy About You Ministries (CAYM)