Lord, who may dwell in Your sacred tent? Who may live on Your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others… (Psalm 15:1-3).
Our Father, Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing (Habakkuk 1:13). So You offer us the righteousness of Christ, and You call us in the power of the Holy Spirit, as You called Abraham, to walk before You and be blameless (Genesis 17:1).
Father, You give us practical instructions for doing what is righteous—speaking the truth, loving our neighbor, uttering no slander, casting no slur, and doing no wrong to others (Psalm 15:1-3). These holy standards show us that controlling the tongue is essential for a blameless walk.
The apostle James tells us that the way we use our tongue is the measure of our commitment to love You and to love our neighbor—the measure of the genuineness of our faith: Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless (James 1:26).
James reminds us that the tongue cannot be both an instrument of holy praise to God, and of evil communication to those around us: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be (James 3:9-10).
O Lord, we desire to dwell in Your sacred tent—to live on Your holy mountain. Help us to love You wholeheartedly. To love our neighbor as ourself. To do what is right. To speak the truth from our heart. To keep a tight rein on our tongue.
Keep our lips from careless words. Idle words. Thoughtless words. Hurtful words. Destructive words. Teach us to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires (James 1:19-20). We pray as David did, Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips (Psalm 141:3).
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