You need to stop talking so much

I've just returned from a week-long sabbath. I left "really important" things like my laptop and iPhone at home, and headed west toward the mountains armed with not much more than my bible and a journal. One of the biggest things that God showed me through the silence that I dove into was that I use too many words in general and too many words that promote me rather than promote him.

Jesus said in John 14 that the words he spoke came from the Father. Psalm 19 humbly asks that the words of our mouths be acceptable in the sight of God. After being silent for a week, I realized that too often that I use my words to promote myself in some way (sounding smart, wise, funny, etc.) and not often enough do I use my words to encourage people to God.

I think that the only way to allow God's words to fill our hearts so that when we speak, we speak words that he wants us to, is to certainly fill up on his word, but also intentionally refrain from using words as flippantly as we do. This includes speaking for sure, but also includes things like Facebook, Twitter, and basic idle chatter. Not that there's anything wrong with a conversation about sports or a movie, or updating your status or sending out a tweet. But we need to ask ourselves what the purpose of our words are. Are we promoting ourselves or promoting God?

We all need to stop talking so much and start listening to God and others more.