Every worker of the Lord has his specialty. He has his own special portion before the Lord, and God uses him by bringing out his special portion. Yet he should also have a balanced development in the other areas. A balanced development will eliminate any gaps or flaws in his ministry. If a brother is good at his specialty, yet fails in other areas, his ministry will be damaged by leaks. In the previous chapters, we covered various character traits such as listening to others, having a love for men, having a mind to suffer, buffeting the body, and being diligent. These are basic qualifications which we should have. No servant of God should be lacking in these character traits. The point of this chapter—being restrained in our speaking—is another basic qualification. A loose talker cannot convey God's word in an accurate way. Many brothers would have had a very bright and hopeful future had it not been for the fact that their tongues were too loose; they lost all their strength before God.
We have to guard our spiritual worth, our spiritual weight, and our spiritual usefulness before the Lord by every means. We cannot squander the special portion that God has given us. We should not deplete it a little here and a little there. In order to preserve our ministry, we have to plug all the leaking holes. The preservation of the ministry of the Lord's worker should be his most crucial concern. If we do not preserve our ministry, all the things and responsibilities God has given us will be lost little by little, and in the end they will all be gone. We cannot be careless with even a single word that we say. We have to receive the dealings, rebukes, and judgments from the Lord. Brothers and sisters, it is not enough just to receive positive things. We also have to pay attention to preserving the positive things so that they will not become lost. If we do not deal with our speaking, we will surely lose the positive things that we already have.
When we stand before the judgment seat, we may discover that the damage done by frivolous, loose talk exceeds that which was done through many other things, because this kind of damage does not stop with us. It works great havoc in the lives of others as well. Words do not stop with us. Once a word is spoken, it continues to spread. Suppose some brothers have said something improper. Once the words escape their lips, they cannot be retracted. We can repent of our folly, and we can ask for forgiveness. We can even bury ourselves in ashes and repent, saying, "Lord, I have said something wrong." The Lord's blood will cleanse us, but it will not remove the words that have gone out. The words will continue to exist on the earth. We can confess our sins to the Lord and to the brothers, and both the Lord and the brothers can forgive us, but the words that we have spoken will remain and continue to spread. Some workers may be lacking in having a mind to suffer. Others may have a problem with listening to others or a weakness in being slothful. But the problem of unrestrained words may be more serious than slothfulness, a failure to listen, or the lack of having a mind to suffer. Careless words release a deadly stream that flows on and on and spreads death wherever it goes.