Commitment Comes First

Words That Heal - Part 1: Introduction

The Bible study group that I recently joined is reading "Words That Hurt, Words That Heal" by Carole Mayhall.

The introduction of this book struck a resonating chord in my heart. And challenged my attitude as I begin this study (much as the author intended, I would guess).

Carole Mayhall subtitles the intro "Commitment Comes First" and jumps straight to the heart of the matter.

Any time we approach God's Word we must be completely committed to respond with obedience to whatever God asks of us.

Now that my seem very obvious, but I realized I have become careless with my reading of scripture. Do I remind myself of my total surrender to God before I read, that I may be prepared to promptly respond to His call?

"God wants total commitment. He wants us to be wholehearted. Sold out. Willing to pay the price of being disciples." She goes on to say that this means, "Anywhere, anytime, anything, Lord."

Before beginning this challenging study about the words of my mouth, I must first look at my heart...

Am I truly willing to do whatever it takes to bring my tongue under the control of the Spirit? Giving up selfish activities to provide more time to meditate and pray? Humbling myself to recognize how I wrong others with my words and asking forgiveness from others?

"Lord, teach me what it means to have the mouth of the righteous. Teach me how it fits into total commitment. I want my mouth -- my tongue and my words -- to bring glory to You all the days of my life."

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I am currently reading Words That Hurt, Words That Heal by Carole Mayhall.
All quotes in this post are from the Introduction of this book.
Check out the other posts in this series.