When Jesus Christ was asked about the greatest commandment in the law, He answered concerning the second great commandment: "And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39).

Jesus also gives us a principle we can use to evaluate our "success" in following this second great commandment: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things" (Matthew 12:34-35).

The Proverbs tells us: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21).

Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founding fathers, once wrote: "A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over." He was referring to the effect our words can have on our relationships.

On the other hand, encouraging words of comfort, recognition, praise and even correction are words of life, strengthening our neighbor. Several of Solomon's proverbs tell us a lot about this aspect of our speech.

What we say or don't say should be characterized by love of neighbor. Words of praise for a good deed or a job well done, words that help our neighbor cope with some emotional challenge are examples.

How "well" are we loving our neighbor? One way to measure our "success" is to examine our words.

With these thoughts I wish us all a rewarding Sabbath!