Remember the old saying our mothers used to tell us, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”? As you look at the things the Bible calls a sin, so many are manifested through what we say. So as we grow older, if we could only adhere to our mother’s advice, we would all be a little closer to Christ. Verses through out the Bible talk about sin and actions as Christians we are to avoid. In an effort to follow God’s commandments and His will for our lives, it is important to know what He calls a sin. It is so much nicer to look at the verses that tell us about the blessings He has for us, however these blessing are only bestowed on us as we are doing as He commands us. So understanding sin allows us to recognize it and turn from it.

I organized as many verses as I could in the Bible that warned us on what the Lord calls a sin and then combined them to come up with a list of actions we are called to avoid. Everyone learned about the 10 commandments from the Old Testament is Sunday school, but in the New Testament the verses are much more specific, so it was these that I concentrated on. From this list, the ones that occur when we speak or are manifested when we open our mouths are very numerous. It is interesting to see that some of them appear to be very minor and accepted by society, but we need to realize the Bible has listed them as a sin. In an effort to turn from these sins, we must understand what they are and here is the list of sins that come from our mouth and listed in the Bible: Filthy language, obscenities, lovers of controversy, quarrels, discord, constant friction, dissention, course joking, slander, false testimony and even anger and rage. These can be found in the verses listed below and would encourage you to look them up for yourselves: Colossians 3:5-8, 1 Timothy 6:3-5, 1 Peter 2:1, Ephesians 5:3-5, Romans 1:29-30 and directly from Christ is Matthew 15:19.

This last verse quoted above is a particularly direct explanation from Christ that our words come from our heart, showing outwardly whom we really are. This discussion was in an explanation to Peter over a parable He had told earlier about the eating of unclean food, but Christ clearly tells Peter that what comes out of the mouth demonstrates the character of us as Christians. Look again through this list above and even though we pray, go to church and are even working hard to love the Lord through service to others, how often do we say a bad word, tell a dirty joke, tell someone something about someone else, tell a little white lie or get into arguments with those around us. It is easy to see how often we partake in these activities, but then as we walk along the narrow path to ever maturing faith, we must remember these are sins. We have to realize, even if they do not sound that bad, we still need to understand them and make every effort to remove them from our daily lives.

Author Bio: Steve Childers is the author of Catholic or Protestant: What our Churches Should Be Teaching. Visit www.CatholicOrProtestant.com to learn more about the book and to register for FREE articles sent weekly. This book is also the perfect guide for your Bible study topics as you discover the full truth of God’s Word.

Category: Religion
Keywords: verses bible,follow god\’s commandments,10 commandments,mouth is connected to our hearts