Page 171 - Radical Love by Linda Robinson
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     RADICAL LOVE
          “Your lips are as lovely as Rahab’s scarlet ribbon, speaking mercy and
          speaking grace. The words of your mouth are as refreshing as an oasis.
          What pleasure you bring to me.”
          Lips are the vehicles through which our words come forth. The words
          we speak have the power to bring life or death. Proverbs 18:21 (TPT)
          puts it like this:
          “Your words are so powerful that they will kill or give life, and the
          talkative person will reap the consequences.”
          Look also at what it says in James 1:19 (NRSV):
          “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen,
          slow to speak, slow to anger;”
          And in verse 1:26  (NRSV): “If any think they are religious and do not
          bridle  their  tongues  but  deceive  their  hearts,  their  religion  is
          worthless.”
          Further on in James 3:8 (TPT), it says: “...but the tongue is not able to
          be tamed!”
          We live in a world where gossip and words of death are spewed forth
          on  TV,  in  magazines,  at  the  workplace,  and  on  social  media  at  an
          increasingly  alarming  rate.  The  Bible  tells  us  in  2  Timothy  3:1-3
          (paraphrase): But you need to be aware that in the final days, the culture
          of society will become extremely fierce and difficult for the people of
          God… People will become addicted to hateful and malicious slander.
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