The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked
pours out evil things. 

Proverbs 15:28

Does anyone take time to ponder a thing anymore? Do we think twice before we answer? Or count to ten before we blow up in someone’s face? If we follow online news or any social media feed, it doesn’t seem like these simple tools of even short delays in our reactions are being utilized. 

Just today I read a news report that a man was fatally shot in the face for simply getting out of his car to speak to the person he bumped their car with his car. This shooter will be charged with murder for literally ‘pouring out evil’ with their weapon of choice over what turned out to be just mere scratches to either vehicle. Such a sad very short episode of time that will affect both families of this incident for a very long time. 

Of course, we may justify ourselves by stating quite emphatically that we do not carry any kind of weapon and we do not plan on killing anyone. But Jesus said that if we hate in our hearts, it is just as if we have murdered. (See Matthew 5:21-22) And we witness hate and evil pouring out daily; not just online with memes, videos and comments, but just by going to a store or flying in an airplane! 

We truly are living in a powder keg culture! 

How do we keep our mouths shut when needed and open them with discretion when needed? How do we choose the right words in the worst possible moments? How do we control our tone and our facial expressions? Is it even possible to diffuse escalating situations within our families and among our friends and even in our churches? 

It all comes down to the condition of our heart! This is not a new theme for this 31 Days of ‘Heart Matters’. We see, again, the importance of building up righteousness within our hearts; within our inner-self.  [See Day] The practical advice given in the first half of our key verse is useless if we have not cultivated a righteous heart. And we have no hope of doing that without Jesus! [See Day]

When, as a Jesus-Follower, we have been born-again and are a new creation and have the Holy Spirit living within us, then our inner-self…our heart is made new and righteous. [See Day] But we have to cultivate and keep it in good and holy righteous condition. This is a daily battle. You can read Romans chapters 6-8 for Paul’s detailed discussion on that topic! So, we see and must believe that as Jesus’ disciples we do have the ability to impact our circle of influence and even our culture by following the advice in the first half of today’s key verse.

We need to slow down! And specifically, we need to slow down our answers. In other words, we need to ponder before we speak. To ponder is much more than just ‘counting to ten’ or ‘thinking twice’ before we speak. The Hebrew word here means to muse, imagine, meditate, devise. 

It is taking what we want to say or how we want to respond and use the God-given tool of imagination to think through what will be the end result if we speak the words we want to speak and say them with the tone we want to use coupled with the facial expressions we want to show. 

That, my dear reader, is no easy task even when one is preparing in advance what to say about a delicate topic or when preparing for a speech. It seems a near impossible expectation when dealing with normal everyday conversations and split second encounters; like accidently backing into someone’s vehicle. 

But God (love that phrase) has given us Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the foundation of a new creation heart!

We can ponder with our righteous heart in split second moments and be that person who speaks with grace, whose tone is filled with mercy and whose face or countenance is glowing with the love of Christ.

I think of famous Christian athletes who demonstrate this on and off the field under world renown pressure for perfection within their chosen sport. It is glaringly noticeable the difference between these Christian brothers and sisters and their unbelieving teammates and opponents. They don’t scream at the refs and they don’t swear during the postgame interviews, etc… Of course, we rarely know how they behave or what they say in a locker room or in private situations (really that is none of our business) but if they were using a potty mouth in the locker room, it would be hard for them to hide that on the field and in public discourse. And, of course, they are not perfect and sometimes ungodly words and tones and facial expressions are front and center for all the world to see. 

(By the way, I don’t think I could ever handle that kind of pressure and so I pray for these athletes as God reminds me of their world platform and the pressure they are under.)

Anyway, I do believe that true Christian athletes in our world of sports do shine a bright light for the Gospel! And a lot of that light shines because they practice; 

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer.

If they can do it on the world stage, surely, we can also follow this instruction within the smaller circles of influence we find ourselves living in and declare the glorious God we serve with every word that proceeds out of our mouth.