There is little doubt, that at some point in your life, you have either heard or spoken a variation of one of the above statements. Most of the time, the declaration of raw honesty is ignorantly performed in a spirit of pride and honor; as if it were a sign of spiritual maturity. When we tout that we “just call a spade a spade” we are usually talking about someone else’s spade. Very rarely, if at all, when we act as if we are fighting for a spot in honesty’s hall of fame, do we take an honest look at our own spades and call them what they truly are. While the Bible does not oppose honesty, it does oppose truth without love. When we get the attitude that God is calling us to verbally “cleanse the temple”, most of the time we actively display our lack of self-control. The point of the passage today is that if you would live wisely, God is calling you to exercise self-control in the area of speech. It is not honoring to God, or edifying to others, for us to communicate in raw honesty. God, rather, calls us to love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, humility, and self-control. If the Spirit of God lives in you, you have the ability to exercise every one of these qualities. Wisdom and knowledge will lead you to godly speech, a selfish agenda, will lead to destructive words and behavior.