Psalm 19:14
May the speech from my mouth and the thoughts in my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Applying God’s Word today: Thoughts and words of love and kindness.
We live in a world that can quickly push us to our limits, and how quickly our thoughts lead us to react with words and actions that offend everyone, especially God. We may abandon caution and restraint because someone hurt us or our pride was challenged. Showing kindness to others can be hard, and even more so as sin begins to take root in our hearts.
Yet we look to Jesus, who remained silent during His trial, not responding to the lies His accusers charged Him with. When He spoke, it was not to defend Himself but with words that condemned Him to death; He was accused of blasphemy, but He spoke the truth, declaring that He was the Son of God. His words and thoughts were pleasing to God because through them, He carried out our salvation plan. He knew the outcome of those words and spoke them anyway for our salvation.
When we respond to things, it’s helpful to remember that Jesus has forgiven all our sins because of his innocent suffering and death. This doesn’t mean we can do or say anything we want, but it means that, through faith, a change occurs in our hearts: our words and thoughts become pleasing; we become more aware of ourselves. In this Psalm, we pray that our words and thoughts would be pleasing to our Lord and that we would also bless others.
Dear Heavenly Father, forgive us for our lingering thoughts and the angry words that escape our lips. Strengthen our faith so we can overcome our judgments of others, refrain from speaking harshly, and avoid lying about others. Please give us hearts full of love, that we may share Your love for us with those who do not know You. Let our words and thoughts always be pleasing to You, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Jesus once said, “It is not what goes into a person that defiles them, but what comes from the heart.” A heart is changed only by faith—by knowing and trusting in Jesus and the forgiveness he offers to everyone; remember Jesus’ forgiveness and God’s love for you.