A BEAUTIFUL LIFE
TEXT: PSALM 34: 12-14
12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it (NIV).
To enjoy this transient life on earth and the eternal one promised by God, we are admonished to keep our tongues from evil and our lips from telling lies. Men cannot spit forth poison without feeling some of the venom burning their own flesh. Deceit must earnestly be avoided by the man who desires happiness. Clean and honest conversation, by keeping the conscience at ease, promotes happiness. Lying and wicked talk stuffs our pillows with thorns, and makes life a constant whirl of fear and shame. Jesus admonishes us in Matthew 12:37 that- "For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned". Let us value our speech towards ourselves, our fellow workmates and children as it can mar the enjoyment of our lives. In Ephesians 4:29, we are once again advised to protect our tongues with diligence. “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.”
From the verse 14 of Psalm 34, we are entreated to shun evil. This denotes that evil is immediate to us; it keeps close to us, and should be declined and shunned. In order to see many good old days we must avoid all sorts of evil: - evil men and their evil company; evil things, evil words and works, and all appearances of evil (Gal. 5:19-21). In departing from evil, we are implored to do good. Negative goodness is not sufficient to entitle us to heaven. There are some of us who live upon negatives; we are not drunkards, we are not swearers, we are not fornicators, we do not lie and for this we pride ourselves. That’s how the Pharisee was living in Luke 18:11, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even...