A part of being a faithful disciple of Christ is being consistently disciplined.  There is an obvious connection between the words discipline and disciple, isn’t there?  The purpose of discipline is to train one to act according to established rules and regulations.   The one who enforces the rules is the disciplinarian.  The one who follows those rules is the disciple.  So then, the disciple of Christ is the one who follows His Word because he is disciplined.

No area of our lives necessitates more discipline than how we use our tongues.  James says, “…If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body” (James 3:2).

When it comes to the tongue, it is easy to let our guard down and say things that we should not.  Having control of the tongue is not something we do on accident, but is, instead, something we plan to do ahead of time.  To do it consistently, we must have the desire to do so.  David demonstrated such a desire.

Psalm 141:3 (ESV)
3  Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

David understood the danger of the tongue and the destruction it can cause, so he solicited the help of God to assist him in controlling it.  This was clearly something he wanted to do, and it should be something we want to do as well.

One way we can show that we have control over our tongues is by not talking too much.  That is a major problem for some people.  It is not that they curse or are abusive in their speech, or anything like that…they simply talk too much.  That is a result of a lack of discipline, and many are plagued by it.  A daily devotional entitled, “Every Day with Jesus Daily Bible,”  revealed a conversation one had with a doctor.  Here it is.

“A doctor told me that once while writing out a prescription, he asked a woman to put out her tongue. When he had finished, she said to him, ‘But doctor, you never even looked at my tongue.’ The doctor replied, ‘It wasn’t necessary, I just wanted you to keep quiet while I wrote the prescription.’” Many blunders made with the tongue could be avoided by simply not over-talking.  I ran across this poem by an anonymous writer:

If your lips would keep from slips
Five things observe with care:
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how and when and where.
That is sound advice that is scriptural as well.

James 1:19 (ESV)
19  Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Let’s all do our best to have disciplined tongues, beginning with not talking too much.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.