Six More Word Principles

The sermon on Sunday was the third of a three part series within a series.  The series is "Wise Life: The Ancient Wisdom of Proverbs for the Daily Grind."  The series within (one of many), was "Wise Words."  We broke it up into three major principles: 1) The less you speak and the more you listen, the wiser you are. 2) Words can either reveal the truth or twist it; choose honesty - especially about yourself and about God.  3) You are what you say.

In "You Are What you Say," we identified six major principles of speech from Proverbs:

1. Knowledge is the Source of Good Speech (10:14, 31-32; 11:9; 15:2; 20:15; 27:1).
2. Death and Life are in the Power of the Tongue (11:11; 18:21; 20:20; 26:2) - addressed here is the power of blessing and cursing. 
3. Don't Associate with a Gossip, and don't be one (11:13; 20:19)
4. Refuse to cast insults or slander, and ignore them when cast against you (10:18; 11:12; 12:16; 19:11)
5. Practice Gentleness and Tact (12:25; 15:1, 4; 16:21-24; 25:11, 20; 27:14; 31:26)
6. Speak in Support of the Poor, refuse to insult them (17:5; 31:8-9)

Eventually, what you say and how you say it will shape and direct your life.  Commentator Derek Kidner says it well: 

"Superficial habits of talk react on the the mind; so that, e.g., cynical chatter, fashionable grumbles, flippancy, half-truths, barely meant in the first place, harden into well-established habits of thought." Proverbs, 68.  

Who are you?