Slow to Speak: A Radical Act in the Age of Hot Takes

There is something uniquely counter cultural about this verse. In the social media age in which we live, everyone has all the access they need to air their opinions about everything. I even saw someone who had commented on the Atlantic Ocean (I am not joking) rating it a 4/5 because it was “a nice blue but too cold.”

While we can certainly laugh at these types of examples, the dangers of constantly chattering away our opinions and comments aren’t amusing. Since first coming across this verse in high school, I began to try to be more judicious in my words. I still make a lot of mistakes, but I’ve come up with a simple two step system to help me be more mindful about what I say. I believe this biblically based process has brought much more peace and far less drama to my life. I hope it will for you too.

While I may want to respond with a particularly timely (and unkind) comment to someone’s actions or remarks, Curiosity is the first action I try to bring myself to do. Instead of responding right away, I try to take time even in the moment to draw out the reason for why this person might have done or said what they did. Proverbs 20:5 tells us that a man of understanding will draw out the deep well of a person’s plans. Spending time trying to understand before responding is time well spent.

Prayer might seem like an obvious one, but have you prayed at the moment you’re tempted to speak, comment or text someone something questionable? There are times when, in conversation with someone, I have to imagine Christ in the room and I look at him and whisper in my heart “can I say…”  I have felt more times than not that he holds up his hand or shakes his head. The reality of living a life hidden in Christ means our words don’t belong to us. They’re the Lord’s now. We aren’t at liberty to “just say it” whenever we feel like it. Some things are from the old Eve and we have to stop allowing her to run our worlds.

Curiosity and prayer are available to us all the time just like accessibility to airing our opinions. One will bring us closer to the heart of God and the other will cause temporary pleasure at best and broken relationships and sin at worst. I pray this week as we reflect on this verse (or memorize it if you’re joining along!) that we become more mindful of the precious power our words have on others.