Song of Solomon 4:3a Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely:

I was talking to my wife on the phone today as I finished up running errands for her in town. She ended the call as she always does. “Bye, bye Hon.” The tone of her voice dropped low, sultry and her way of making me know I am loved without saying the words.

Many times we do not pay enough attention to the tone of our voices. The tone alone can either emphasize our words or destroy their effectiveness. Fair speech is more than the right words, it is how the words are delivered.

Job 6:26 Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?

Job understood that personal situations could affect speech. Perhaps our hearts can be in the right place but are we in a peaceful place to be in control of the words we wield? The spiritual fruit of self-control has every bit as much to do with speech as it does behavior.

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

I am not yet perfected, but that is no excuse for careless speech.