Watch Your Words!

Since I'm a sister missionary and sister missionaries are totally adorable, I've learned a few tricks for teaching things to kids so they can remember what we talk about. We have these little hand signals for each of the Ten Commandments so that kids can learn them in the order they were given. One of my favorites is the signal for the third commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." The signal is to use 3 fingers (since it's the third commandment) and put them over your lips, like this: 

To help little kids understand what this commandment means, we tell them to "Watch your words!" No swearing or taking God's name in vain. I never really thought this commandment was a huge deal, but I have come to see lately how important it is that we watch our words. You can tell a lot about a person's character by the way they speak.

In Matthew, some Pharisees were mocking Jesus and His apostles because they were eating without having washed their hands. They claimed that Christ's apostles were unclean because of it--they discredited the Apostles' character. Christ taught a bit of valuable truth to them:

17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
 (Matthew 15:17-20)

Heavenly Father gave us this commandment to help us develop good character. (And if there's one thing this world needs, it's people of character.) The things that come out of our mouths define us. Our words reflect our hearts. The things we say--and think--determine our actions. Our actions become habits. And our habits develop into our character. 

What do your words say about your character?