Unlimited: Open Graves
Jun 3, 2022 1584
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[d]
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness” (Romans 3:13–14)
In the ancient middle east, there was hardly anything more shocking than an open grave. Graves were infested by everything that was to be feared, such as scorpions and snakes.
The image that these words evoke is that of a horrifying grave out of which a poisonous viper emerges. The image is even more difficult to deal with when you realise that the snake is your own tongue, and its poison are your words!
Mouths are like open graves when they speak poisonous words.
Here Paul quotes Psalm 140 to describe the whole human race. It is remarkable that Paul chooses to highlight human wickedness by referring to the harm that our words can do. That’s because Paul knows that if we cannot control our tongues which are small, how will we ever control our hearts?
The apostle James also refers to the same principle to point out the sinfulness of those who may think that they are better than others:
We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check… 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell… (James 3:1,6.)
Spiritual Application
To what extent is your tongue controlled by the Holy Spirit? What damage has it caused in the past? What blessings has it brought?
Maurine Baswell
Jun 4, 2022
Thank you for your inspiring words.
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Nov 21, 2024
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