James 3:10 - Godliness and maliciousness do not go together

“Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

James 3:10

Godliness and maliciousness do not go together. You cannot be malicious and by godly at the same time. You are not walking in the Spirit if you are being malicious. You are operating in the flesh if you are and maliciousness does not honor God in any way, shape, or form. Two of the major forms of maliciousness are gossiping and slandering. Gossiping involves repeating a matter, often something that is not good about someone. Slandering involves speaking critically about someone with the intent to defame or hurt them. When God’s children use either one of these forms, it hurts and grieves the heart of God. Sometimes when we use these forms it is about those that we love the most, often those that are in our family. Other times it is with those that we work or go to church with. This should not be. We are commanded to love others and to walk in love. We are commanded to love our neighbor as thyself. I want you to ponder something today. We would not want anyone to gossip about us behind our backs. It would hurt our feelings if they did. We also wouldn’t want others to slander our name with not even one other person. This, too, would hurt us. If we wouldn’t want anyone to be malicious concerning us, why do we feel it is okay to do that with anyone else. It is not.

Father, we ask you today to help us. May we speak only blessings about those that You have put into our lives. May we never curse others, talk behind their backs, gossip or slander them. Keep us in check. May we guard our hearts, thoughts, and the words that come from out of our mouths. We want to bring glory to You. We want to be godly at all times. Father, Psalm 19:14 says “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” May this be our life’s motto. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.