“SILENCE PLEASE”

“Naahaakka”

“SILENCE PLEASE” and “Talk Less, Work More” are common sign boards we see.

Word is Power. It is by the Words of God that the whole world was created- Gen 1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26. God communicated to man through His words- Gen 1:28. It is through the words that Eve was duped to disobey God- Gen 3:1,4. It is by their speech that Adam and Eve tried to put the blame on someone else – Gen 3:12,13.

Speech is a wonderful gift given only to mankind. Animals and birds have their own way of communication to a limited sense. It is a very potential tool given to man. When men declared their own plan without God, He scatters them mainly by their words – Gen 11:4,7. The Book of Proverbs is full of verses that talk about the way we have to use our words.

Powerful Words: The words of Christ were not ordinary religious sermons – they were packed with the power of God – Matt 7:28,29. The words of the early Apostles brought in thousands to Christ – Acts 2:41; 4:4. The secret of the power of their words is not their education or training, but their relationship with Christ – Acts 4:13. Paul declares that Gospel with mere human words will not be effective – 1 Thes 1:5; Phil 1:13-18. The Bible ends with the unchangeable words in the “Book” – Rev 22:18,19.

The Kural: The famous Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar’s couplet says,
“ Yahavarayinum Naahaakka, Kavakkal, Sohappar Sollilukkup Pattu”
The meaning goes like this: Even if you do not control all other things, control your tongue. If you fail in this, you will get caught in your words and get in to real trouble. Yes, even if we lose our money or position, we can regain them. But, if we commit mistake in our words, the damage will be irreparable. So we have to have total control on our tongue.

Slow to Speak: A proverb compares the carelessly spoken words to milk that got spilt over the ground. Just like we will not be able to collect the spilt milk, we will not be able to get back the words which we speak. We have to think and talk. Not to think after we have talked. We are in a world of fast communication. We want to respond as soon as we get a sms or e mail. We may get some message that may hurt and irritate us. We like to give back by the same coin. We hurry to respond immediately. We do not think of the choice of words we use. But, later, we regret for the language we used in hurry. When we are emotionally disturbed, it will be ideal to draft your reply, store it and send it the next day after reading it again. Similarly you can write reply for a letter and post it the next day after reading it in an objective way. By this, we can avoid a lot of heart breaks.

Confess faith: We have to be careful about the confessions we make. If we always think and speak words of unbelief and hopelessness, it will have it’s effect on our lives and ministry. It is true, Job did not commit mistake by accusing God in his problems - Job 42:7. But, initially he thinks that his own fear and dread has resulted in these problems – Job 3:25. When the angel of God spoke strength to Daniel, immediately he was strengthened – Dan 10:19. By declaring Scripture based promises, we can inherit God’s blessings. “A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth, and from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” – Proverbs 18:21,22.

Break the shackles: Our upbringing can have it’s influence on us. Parents use words like “Giant / madman /Police is coming. Eat fast”. As we grow, we learn to tell lies in the same fashion. Formal words are part of our eastern diplomacy. Even of we are hungry, if someone offers food, we will not immediately accept the offer. Only when the host compels, we accept to eat as if with hesitation, even though we are dying for food. A saying is that you can tell 1000 lies to get someone married!

But, as children of God, we have to break some of these traditional shackles. We have to be careful in the words we use to our children. We have to avoid unnecessary threats and explain to the children the consequences of doing wrong. We have a lot of jokes about the promises made by politicians during elections. We have to be careful about the Promises we make to children. Promises are not to be made without proper thinking. If we make a promise, we have to keep it at all cost. Our ‘Yes’ has to be ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ to be ‘No’ – Matt 5:37.

Let us think before we talk. Let us think twice before we click the mouse to “Send”. Let us think thrice before telling some hurting remarks about others. “Naahaakka” – ‘guard your tongue - ’is a wonderful slogan to help us to glorify God in the use of our tongue.

P.Jebaraj, UESI Church Relations Secretary, Chennai
pjebarajuesi@hotmail.com