Proverbs 15:4

Proverbs 15:4 "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit."

For the ancient Hebrew who knew his Scripture, this proverb would get his attention because of how Solomon described a wholesome tongue.  Anyone who knew anything about Moses' account of the Garden of Eden knew about the Tree of Life, which grew within its organic walls.  Once man sinned, God banned Adam and Eve from the garden so as to prevent them from eating of the Tree of Life and living forever in a state of sin.  The Tree of Life offered mankind eternal life and that made it forever fascinating.  The Old Testament Hebrew never knew what had become of the Tree of Life, or the Garden of Eden for that matter.  The Tree of Life isn't resurrected in Scripture until the end of the New Testament in the Book of Revelation where we see it standing in the New Earth.  Because the Old Testament saint didn't know anything about the relocation of the Tree of Life, any comment or reference to it would create instant curiosity.  Hence, Solomon's wise usage of language in connection to such a tree.  In fact, this wholesome tongue is one of four different things Solomon refers to as "a tree of life" in his book of Proverbs.

That being said, the wise author of this proverb didn't use this memorable language just to create curiosity.  He used this language to emphasize mass importance of the man's mouth.  What we say and how we talk is more important than we realize.  Both sides of this proverb carry a lot of weight and together, pack quite the informational punch.  On one side, wholesome speech is likened unto a tree of life while on the other side, perverse speech is likened unto a breach in the spirit, or a break or opening in the spirit.  When contrasting the two truths, the differences in speech produce extreme differences in impact.  A tree of life keeps someone alive, potentially forever if considered within the context of Eden.  On the very serious contrary, a breach in the spirit would allow for something deadly to enter INTO the spirit.  This proverb is addressing an often-overlooked spiritual fact that the mouth gate is an extremely important gate to our spiritual well-being.

We so easily fail to see that the mouth is as much a gate to the spirit as are the eye and ear gates.  We all know that what we let into our eyes severely impacts what we think.  We all know that what we let into our ears severely impacts how we feel.  We all know that we have to be careful with what movies, shows, images and video games we let into our minds through our eyes.  We all know that we have to be selective with what music, language, teaching and counsel we allow into our hearts through our ears.  We know that those are gates to the spirit within us.  We understand that evil images and wicked words entering through our eyes and ears do great harm to the spiritual being within us.  What we often fail to understand is that the mouth is a gate to the spirit of man as well.  We don't realize it because the mouth is different than the eyes and the ears.  The eyes and the ears only consume - they don't distribute.  They only take in - they don't give out.  The mouth is unique in that it both consumes and distributes.  In the physical realm, it both takes in substance and gives out communication.  As a physical feature of the body, the mouth is the gate through which food and beverage go into the body as well as the gate out of which words and song go from the body.  In the spiritual realm, the mouth doesn't just distribute - it consumes.  

As it pertains to the spirit of man, the mouth is the Gate of gates because it's a two-way street.  Our speech doesn't just impact the people we're speaking to.  Our words don't just impact the lives around us.  What we say has a massive impact on our own spirit and being.  If we can control our tongue from saying something hurtful to a loved one, it protects them from harm but it also and arguably more importantly, protects us from digressing in our view of that loved one.  If we can control our tongue from lashing out hastily at a stranger, it strengthens our spirit in general and like a tree of life, brings spiritual life to our being.  On the contrary, if we allow perversion into our speech for any reason at any time, we're unknowingly opening the door for greater spiritual harm in our spirits.  Allowing a curse word to reside on our tongue opens the door for another curse word.  Saying something cruel to your spouse opens the door to saying something even more cruel to your spouse in the future.  The hurtful words we say to others do more hurt than we think because they hurt us by opening the door to increase our hurtful vocabulary.  Saying off-color comments or telling dirty jokes does something to our spirit.  As those perverse words go out, something comes in.  It's a breach in the spirit!  As perverse words go out, an appetite for new or more perverse words comes in.  This is why someone who starts speaking lies tends to get worse and worse at speaking lies.  This is why someone who starts using profanity tends to get worse and worse at speaking profanities.  This is why couples who start to say nasty things tend to get worse and worse at offending each other.  The mouth is a gate with two-way traffic and that makes it the Gate of gates.

Because the mouth gate possesses such power, the man or woman who rules their tongue with godly wisdom does their soul as much good as a tree of life does to the body.  A wholesome, or healthy tongue, doesn't open the door to learning new ways to say evil things.  A wholesome tongue doesn't open the door to saying funnier but more perverse things.  A wholesome tongue keeps the door shut to newly introduced unkind and untrue words about someone or something.  It keeps the vocabulary of wickedness and unloving words small.  A perverse tongue however, grows that vocabulary with each and every word it speaks.  A perverse tongue builds its vocabulary with creative and destructive ways to keep speaking perversely.  It is a breach in the spirit through which outside evil forces enter.  A wholesome tongue offers no breach for those destructive words to enter but instead, only offers the soul spiritual health.

James put it best when he wrote, "if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the WHOLE BODY."  He understood the gate of the mouth in that its condition impacts more than its audience.  In James 3:6, he concluded this way, "so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the WHOLE BODY."  While the tongue can certainly help or hurt others by what it says, this proverb informs us that it can help or hurt its own person by what it says.