You may know someone who is a nag. If not, you have come across a nag or two during your lifetime. They rant and rave about this thing and that thing and go non-stop, hardly ever even coming up for air. The main characteristic that rings true for every person who is a nag is that there is incessant complaining. They hardly get off of complaining about one thing, when they move to the next topic and complain there.
You have a choice to either complain or not to complain. The choice is totally yours. In describing the difference between a person who nags and one who does not, one unknown writer says it this way: “You can either complain that rose bushes have thorns or you can be glad that thorn-bushes have roses.” Stop a minute and let that sink in. Wow! The matter of your perspective totally changes everything.
The Word of God has much to say about the words that come out of your mouth. It always says that you are to speak wholesome words that edify and do not tear down. Among the many verses on the use of your words, Ephesians 4:29 says this, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” Here, it condemns the use of unwholesome words. That is true, but it also tells you what to do in place of those unwholesome words you are not to utter. The Scripture tells you to give “a word as is good for edification” “to those who hear.” And in particular those words are to be done in “the need of the moment.”
It is not enough just to eliminate the nag syndrome. You must give positive, uplifting words of grace to those around you that apply to them when they are spoken. Out with the nag, and in with the encourager!
