role models - Jeannie Waters, Writer & Speaker

In this series, I’m sharing how we can open all parts of our hearts—our thoughts, words, and actions—to the Light of Christ. Here are links to Open Our Hearts PART 1 and Open Our Hearts, PART 2 .

Today in Part 3, we’ll talk about our words.

As a third grader, the person I admired most was Señora Carmen, our Spanish teacher. A tall, beautiful Puerto Rican lady, she dressed in stylish clothes and wore gorgeous drop earrings—along with a radiant smile and enthusiasm for teaching.

I wanted to look like her, but more than that, I wanted to sound like her. I hoped to please her with my acquisition of Spanish vocabulary and my accent.

At home I practiced the Spanish words Señora Carmen had taught us. My class of dolls and stuffed animals listened as I clomped around in Mama’s high heels and clip earrings, confident my smile and my Spanish accent matched my teacher’s.

I wanted my words to sound like hers.

By the time I entered fifth grade, I realized I’d never sound like a native Puerto Rican. However, when we study and pattern our language after good role models, we learn to imitate them. I focused on every word my Spanish teacher spoke.

At age seventeen, I met a different role model. Pam, a Campus Crusade for Christ representative who spoke at our church, helped me understand that although I knew about God, I didn’t know Him personally. But I knew I needed Him desperately, and after she talked, I prayed and gave my life to Jesus.

I watched Pam and listened to her for months as she led group studies and befriended my friends and me. Her words, often straight from the Bible, encouraged me. I wanted to sound like her—to share excitement about my walk with Christ and to quote Scripture like she did—and to encourage others to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord.

God continued to teach me through Pam, our pastor, and my personal Bible study. I learned early in my walk with Christ that He is the role model believers need to follow. God’s children love Him and want to be more like Him, to sound more like Him, and to honor Him more.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
Ephesians 5:1 ESV

If we want to imitate God, we can learn more about Him by observing His character traits as revealed in the Bible. As we read, we can search for what He likes and what He despises. We can learn from His words.

We’ll never develop a perfect, divine nature like His, but we will begin to “sound” more like Him and to reflect His glory into the world by the way we act and talk. We’ll learn more about how to share the truths He teaches and how to speak to others according to His instructions.

When we open our hearts and ask God to teach us, the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to shape our words so that they please Him.

When we open our hearts and ask God to teach us, the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to shape our words so that they please Him. Share on X

As the apostle Paul urges in his letter to the Philippians, we also learn from the lives of mature believers (3:17). We can ask God to develop in us the Christlike traits we see in them, like Pam’s exuberance for God’s Word and her faithfulness in sharing the gospel.

Although our relationship with Christ is not governed by a checklist or set of rules, because we love Him, we want to obey His teaching in the Bible about our speech. As I studied this topic, I found a wealth of verses about the words we speak. I’m using the collection below as a checklist to examine my speech.

Your turn

Please share words of wisdom you’ve learned on this topic. What helps you monitor your speech? What have you noticed about conversations with those who honor Christ?

Here’s my collection of verses about our words. Perhaps you’ll want to read them and answer the questions I’m asking myself.

Do My Words Please God?

There is no score tally, but God uses Scripture to renew our minds and transform us to the image of Christ. All verses are from the ESV.

Is my speech free from words God prohibits? Which words should I subtract?

Ephesians 5:4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

James 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

Proverbs 11:12 Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.

Proverbs 12:18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 17:9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

What kind of words should I add to my speech? How can I please God with what I say?

Proverbs 16:24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.

Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

How will these verses change my conversations?

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Proverbs 29:20 Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 21:23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Matthew 15:11 It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.

Morning prayers for my words

Ps. 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

Did you leave a comment to enrich our time together? I look forward to reading your words. : )

A BONUS FOR YOU: A GOOD READ

My friend Annie Yorty wrote a delightful book entitled From Ignorance to Bliss: God’s Heart Revealed Through Down’s Syndrome. The lessons she learned through her daughter Alyssa apply to any challenge we face. Alyssa wrote one chapter. I’m loving this book and think you will, too. Here’s a link.

From Ignorance to Bliss: God’s Heart Revealed Through Down’s Syndrome

This month’s calendar includes a day to honor fathers, but I want to tell you a true story about two mothers, my role models, and the way they thanked their heavenly Father for blessings.

My ninety-eight-year-old mother-in-law, Carolyn, went to her heavenly home earlier this year. When the family prepared to sell her home, I removed the plaque you see in the title photo. It hung on the wall over her table where we had eaten delicious fried chicken and biscuits for decades.

Carolyn had written my mother’s name and the year 2014 on the back of the plaque. Mama gave it to Carolyn as a birthday gift in August of that year. Mama died the following December.

Life was hard for these two beloved ladies, who each lost their fathers to tragic events during childhood. As girls and young women, they lived in near poverty and struggled through trials and disappointments.

Yet both surrendered their lives to Christ and lived lives of joy-filled faith in their heavenly Father. Rather than complain, each of them exhibited a cheerful outlook and gratitude for His blessings.

Today when I prayed about what I’d share with you, I looked above my desk and read the words on the front of Carolyn’s plaque. “God our Father, we thank You for our many blessings.”

Although we’ll honor fathers we know this month, let’s pause to focus on our heavenly Father. In a passage where Paul calls Christians to live a holy life and separate themselves from sinful living, he includes God’s promise,

‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:18 NKJV

Imagine the privilege—sons and daughters of Almighty God.

Imagine the privilege—sons and daughters of Almighty God. Share on X

My mother and mother-in-law understood although their earthly father was absent, their heavenly Father adopted them into His family (Romans 8:14-16) because they’d previously surrendered their lives to Christ. They knew the truth of John 1:12,

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
John 1:12 NKJV

The words “receive” and “believe” in this passage define God’s children as those who acknowledge Jesus as God’s Son, the Messiah, and surrender their lives to Him. Jesus clearly says, He is God’s only provision for salvation and eternal life with Him (John 14:6).

As God’s children, we can look in the Bible and list His numerous attributes which describe Him as the perfect Father. Today, let’s focus on those David recorded in Psalm 103:8-14. As we read the passage, let’s pause to thank Him for each quality.

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:8-14 NKJV

Take the truth with you

As we read Scripture this month, let’s list on paper or in an electronic journal the attributes of God we notice and how they make a difference in our relationship with Him. Let’s ask Him to show us the kind of Father He is and why we can trust Him. This practice will surely deepen our love for Him and remind us to pray the words on my mother-in-law’s plaque: “God our Father, we thank You for our many blessings,” including the privilege of being Your child.

Let’s hear from you

I hope you’ll share in the comment section your favorite attribute of our heavenly Father or an encouraging verse about Him. How does knowing about God help you trust Him?

Tag: role models

How the Right Role Model Can Shape Our Words to Honor God