³⁶ I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, (Matthew 12:36 ESV)

I have read estimates that say we speak as few as 500 and as many as 6,000 words per day. It, of course, depends on the person and how verbose they may be. Due to the many meetings I attend I expect my word count per day is pretty high. Additionally, due to the same thing, I expect the number of words I take in and have to process is quite high.

Words have weight as well as meaning. Too often we spew them out heedlessly and carelessly with little thought to what we are saying. In fact, in the space of silence many people feel the need to fill it with words. People are generally uncomfortable with silence, especially in a group.

However, today’s scripture should give us pause to regard every careless word we speak. We will ultimately be judged not just on our actions but our every word. That is a sobering thought for me.

I was probably pretty careless with my words when I was younger, but today maturity has given way to considering more deeply what I say. As such, I am much more comfortable being silent and letting others speak. I have also found great value in listening more than I speak. It allows me time to formulate my thoughts and provide answers that I hope are of more value.

The value in our words should be evident more in the content than the volume