PSALM 34:12-13-14
"Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it!"
Our ultimate goal is to be in heaven in the presence of the Lord. While on earth we have varying lengths of life and prosperity. The psalmist is telling us what God's advice is if we would like to live a long life and have prosperity while here on earth. It suggests that as we sew, so shall we reap. It confirms that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. It relates to us that we should always think on good things. Most importantly it tells us to keep our tongues from speaking evil and our lips from telling lies. This is a lesson on being positive and not negative and by so doing we can turn from evil and do good. It is something we have to work at to maintain.
To achieve peace we will have to go after it. We must depart from evil and seek and inquire about peaceful things. We alone are responsible for our actions. We are responsible for our thoughts. We have to control them one at a time and throughout our entire life. You can not have good and bad fruit from the same mouth or tree at the same time. You are in control and you therefore are the one that will ultimately determine whether you have a life of peace that is both long and prosperous.
Is you life lacking peace and prosperity. What about your tongue and your lips, do you control them? Do speak negatively and with evil intent. Are you a liar? Do you gossip about others and kill them with your tongue? Do you turn away from evil in print and television and with others? Are you doing good for God? Do you search for a peaceful resolution to your problems and encounters? You will have to work to achieve and maintain a long and prosperous life, but you are the only one in control and the results are in direct proportion to you actions. If you adhere to these warnings you will have LONG LIFE AND PROSPERITY!
