24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
23 A man finds joy in giving an apt reply-- and how good is a timely word!
14 From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.
11 A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.
Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
5 But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
“Being loving and encouraging catches a person’s soul more than angrily defending ideas. Listening to people without condemning them and seeking to encourage them where they are builds bridges and creates relationships.” Tim Baker
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” Mother Teresa
“Kind words also produce their image on men’s souls; and a beautiful image it is.” Blaise Pascal
“There must be a practical outworking of our faith here in this present world, or it will never endure in the world to come. We need fewer words and more charitable works; less palaver and more pity; less repetition of creed and more compassion.” Billy Graham
“Each day offers us an opportunity to build or to tear down. We do both with our actions, attitudes, and most of all, with our words. Wherever you are today, the critical question to ask yourself is, ‘Am I building or am I tearing down?’ We build our legacy one choice and one day at a time. Hudson Taylor once wrote that there are three phases to any impossible project, ‘Impossible...difficult...done!’” Donna Evans
“No matter how just your words may be, you ruin everything when you speak in anger.” John Chrysostom
“The most important thing in life isn’t what we think about ourselves or what others think about us, but what God thinks about us. He is the final Judge. When He examines and evaluates our motives, words, and actions, are we commended, as was Abel, or are we condemned, as was his brother Cain? ‘The Lord does not look at the things man looks at,’ God told the prophet Samuel. ‘Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (1 Sam. 16:7). Warren Wiersbe
“Cold words freeze people, hot words scorch them, and bitter words make them bitter.” Blaise Pascal
“Negative attitudes and words undermine faith. They devalue the very currency we have to use in God’s Kingdom. Wherever God’s voice and your faith are leading you, do not be afraid or dismayed.” Chris Tiegreen
“Though it might be easier to say nothing, how much better to say something. To get our focus off ourselves and on others. To look for ways to lift up rather than tear down. To whisper words from God and bring refreshment to a parched soul.” Liz Curtis Higgs
“Our words have the power to speak life or death over someone. Watch the face of the hearer. Think before we speak. Store up in our hearts His truth before we spout out from our lips our opinions. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth will speak. Be the conduit that life flows freely through to others. We will then leave the aroma of Christ in our circumstances not the stench of death.” BHY