Let No Unwholesome Talk Come from Your Mouths by Mariam Simisani Mokgethi

18 Feb Let No Unwholesome Talk Come from Your Mouths by Mariam Simisani Mokgethi

Life is a journey one which we cannot walk through on our own no matter how much we may wish it or want it at times. In Matthew 19 v 19, Jesus said one of the greatest commandments was to love your neighbor as you love yourself. I’m sure most if not all (believers and unbelievers) are very familiar with that scripture but very few put it into practice, very few know what is required of us.

Love is a choice that requires action. Some of these actions are:

1. Pray for all people (Acts 12 v5)
As I was having my morning devotions, I realized the Holy Spirit was constantly changing my prayers from being about me to being about other people, I found myself praying for young pregnant women (out of wedlock), for those who have lost hope, faith and the desire to live, for those who are in situations that drain their peace and joy. Now I know we cannot possibly pray for all people but I believe as the Holy Spirits leads us in our prayer meetings or in our quiet times, He shall tell us what to pray for, but where we know a specific need or trouble that some people may be facing surely there is no greater duty than to put them before your needs in prayer.

In the reference scripture, the church was earnestly praying for Peter and we all know his miraculous escape from prison. Our prayers for others can be the trigger for miracles in their lives, can be the catalyst to set them free from the whatever prisons of life they may be in. Praying for others even in the midst of all your troubles indicates your faith in God and your trust in Him because at that very moment you quiet down your worries, your fears and all that you are going through- you become still. When you put others needs before your own you cause God to respond not only to others needs but your very own (remember Matthew 6v8 & 24).

2. Be there for others, when they need you and even when they don’t (Hebrews 3v13)
I am one person who has great difficulty with spending time with people or being there for people when they don’t need me. One of my friends pointed this to me to say you know you are always there in the bad and the worst but hardly there to celebrate in the good and the best. I used to have this concept that I am loving people when I’m there only when they need me but alas I couldn’t be further from the truth. If we look at Jesus life, there were times he was with people not because they needed healing or something, he was at times there, fellowshipping in the Word, sharing in in their daily livelihood and even dining with them.

Sometimes people just need good company and not a shrink, often times only the people close to you would be blunt about their problems and others will not thus it is up to us to pick up the signs of trouble and ensure we are there, even if it is to share a word of encouragement. Friendships differ, and we best know how we relate to our friends or the people we associate with, however, let us not forget Christ’s model of friendship which can be observed in the Gospels and of which essentials I wrote about in earlier blogs. Further without forgetting that being there for each other requires giving our time to our friends as well, it is not merely enough to call and say I was just checking up on you, the digital world has caused us to loose value in a lot of things, our friendships should not pay the price.

Mariam Mokgethi is from Botswana, a mother and attends college full time.

**Read Mariam’s posts