SPIRITUAL LIFE AND DAILY LIFE

Message Five
Daily Life—­­Words, Behavior, and Appearance

Scripture Reading:

Matt. 12:34b     …For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

36                      And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment.

1Tim. 4:12        Let no one despise your youth, but be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

Eph. 5:29          For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church.

Ministry Excerpts:

WORDS

Words Revealing a Person’s Heart

Speaking occupies a great part of a person’s life. It is, in fact, a very crucial part of his life. The Lord Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34). A person’s words express his heart; they reveal the things in his heart.

Dealing with Lies

A person never knows how well he lies until he tries to reject lies. The more he tries to reject lies, the more he will find out how well he lies. Even the inclination of his heart is toward lies. There are more lies in this world than we can imagine. There are also more lies in us than we can imagine. We will not know how much we lie until we try to reject lies. When we try to reject them, we will find out how many there are. There are too many lies in the world, and there are too many lies in us. It is sad that lies seem to be unavoidable even among God’s children. It is sad that lies occupy such a place among us. The Lord’s Word is both serious and clear. Everyone who lies is a child of Satan, and Satan is the father of all liars. The most unfortunate thing in the whole world is for the satanic seed of lying to remain in the hearts of God’s children. We cannot remain believers for years yet remain indifferent toward our lies. It will be too late if we wait for many years to deal with them. We have to learn to speak accurately as soon as we believe in the Lord.

No Idle Words

The Lord said, “And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36). Idle words from a Christian’s mouth will not be spoken once but twice. Whatever is spoken carelessly today will be repeated again in the future. It will be repeated in full, sentence by sentence. When it is repeated the second time, we will be justified or condemned based on it. We will have to render an account on the judgment day for every idle word we have spoken. I hope that God’s children will learn to fear Him. We should learn to reject every inaccurate word and to speak accurately. We should never speak about things that do not concern us, and we should not say anything that reaps no benefit to others or to ourselves.

One can tell how much a person has been dealt with by the Lord by the words out of his mouth. No one who has been disciplined by God has an undisciplined mouth. A person who lies or who speaks idle and careless words is of little use to God; he is good only for the day of judgment. We have to learn this lesson from the beginning. Those who speak defiled words are defiled persons. Those who speak corrupted words are corrupted in themselves. The kind of words we speak reveals the kind of persons we are. By its fruit a tree is known. By our words we are known.

Controlling One’s Temper and Being Restricted in Words

The tongue can set on fire the wheel of nature (v. 6, ASV). Life is like a wheel; it is turning all the time. The tongue is like a fire that can set the wheel of life on fire. This means that it can stir up all kinds of fleshly activities. Man’s wrath, flesh, temper, and anger can all be ignited by the tongue. The tongue can ignite the fire of Gehenna. Many troubles flare up through words by God’s children. That is truly something from Gehenna. The tongue is an igniting fire and is a world of unrighteousness.

We must learn to diminish our words. The less words we speak, the better we are. There is transgression in the multitude of words. Proverbs advises us to have few words. Only fools are profuse in words. The more foolish a person is, the more words he has. The more lessons a person has learned before God, the more steadfast he is and the fewer words he has.

Paying Attention to Listening and Resisting an Itching Ear

We must learn to listen to healthy words. We should not be led away by those who spread rumors and improper words. We must say, “I do not want to listen to these things.” Many sins will cease and many brothers will be edified if you do this. There is a lust among us for unhealthy words. This is why these words multiply. People find these words tasteful. We must be delivered from these things. If a person is saying something improper to you, perhaps you should walk away quietly and leave the speaker to himself. This will kill his interest in you the next time. Alternatively, we also can testify to him saying, “As Christians we should not speak such words.” This will stop any further speaking. We may even say something stronger, such as, “Brother! What do you think I am? I am not a trash can. Please do not dump all this trash on me.”

The Tongue Being a Restless Evil;
a Spring cannot Gush out Two Types of Water

One cannot bless God with his tongue and use the same tongue to curse the man created by God. He cannot bless on the one hand and curse on the other hand. A spring cannot gush out two types of water. A fig tree cannot produce olives, nor can a vine produce figs. Salt water cannot produce sweet water. The fruit reveals the tree. The water reveals the spring. A person whom God uses surely produces sweet water; there should not be any bitter taste to his words. (Messages for Building Up New Believers (3), msg. 36)

BEHAVIOR

Although you are not in the military, we still hope that this new beginning would be somewhat militaristic. In the matter of attire you should exercise not to be wasteful but to be clean, neat, and dignified, so that when you go out, you will have a proper appearance. Your living quarters should be arranged in a clean, simple, plain, and elegant way. Otherwise, you will not be qualified to be trained here. I hope you all are clear regarding the principles set forth here. (Vessels Useful to the Lord, msg. 5)

APPEARANCE

God’s creation is beautiful, and there is no ugly color anywhere in it. Today while we are working for the Lord, we are constantly contacting people. Therefore, our clothing, which is a form of our expression, should be proper. I am not telling you to have a high standard of living, but I hope that you would pay attention to your status. You were students in the past, and as students you might not have had the means to pay much attention to your clothing. But now that you are working for the Lord and going out to contact people, you should pay attention to the way that you dress, including the style of your clothing, the type of your clothing, and the color of your shoes and socks. If you are careless in the way that you dress, you will compromise your outward expression and depreciate yourself. Today everybody pays attention to outward appearance. Whenever you buy something, you should examine what it looks like before you decide to buy it. I wish that all of you would pay attention to these things and practice and learn faithfully in this matter.

Paul was wise. He did not go into detail concerning the matter of clothing. He mentioned only that our clothing should be proper. The word proper is deep in meaning and broad in definition. Today as you are learning to serve the Lord and to contact people, your clothing should be proper. When you stand up to speak for the Lord, many people will be listening to you and watching you. Thus, you must be careful about your speaking and your behavior, and you must learn how to dress. (Vessels Useful to the Lord, msg. 12)