Words

Words, Words, Words… The average person speaks about 16,000 words in a given day. When you start thinking about the various conversations you have throughout the day, it’s pretty easy to pick out those that were significant – the ones that you can look back on and say, “Wow, that was an encouraging conversation!” or that screaming match with your friend that you wish you could rewind or delete because angry words were hurled and tears flowed.

“Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.” — Mother Teresa

When I speak negative words, I open myself to traffic in the dark areas within my life. Negative speech reveal the areas of my heart that need to be renewed and transformed (Rom 12:1-2). Solomon said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). It’s the little things I say that can tear the fiber of my fellowship with God – those little foxes who spoil the vine, as it were. Creating a spiritual atmosphere to grow deep in the ways of God means I have to steward my words – even when I am in the privacy of my own home, because I’m creating an atmosphere – either a positive, life-giving place or one negative and dark. Paul admonishes in Col. 4:6, “Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.” When we share things, it should be truth. Sometimes truth in love can look like criticism and judgment, so it is important in those situations to choose our words to be words that bring hope and encouragement and cause people to consider what we are saying. Criticism usually turns people off immediately.

“You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.” — Zig Ziglar

Did you ever have that moment in a conversation where you just snap? Your moth opens and you snarl out an ugly sentence and you wish you could take it back but it’s too late. Those moments when I don’t die to [my “self,” my “rights,” my “right to get the last word in”] and I respond in frustration, I am trafficking in darkness. My outbursts of frustration put me in a bad proximity with my walk with God. The most common way to grieve the Holy Spirit is by your words. Of course, He still loves us; He doesn’t reject us. But when we grieve Him, we are unable to participate in the same measure of fellowship with Him. Paul says in I Thess. 5 not to stifle or quench the work of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to quench the Holy Spirit because of the words that come out of my mouth. What if I really begin to get into a place of discipline with the words that I say and what if I truly become one who speaks life and light? This will showcase the work of the Spirit — a testimony of His power working within my heart!

Opinions are significant. I have many. About everything. We are all experts on life, aren’t we? Most of us have all the answers. In one conversation we can solve the problems of the entire nation, as well as fix all the stuff going on in our friend’s lives. Truth is, most of our opinions are based on partial facts or feelings about an issue. Many times sharing our opinions can bring division when not done in the right way. So how do we share opinions in a way that doesn’t divide and in a way that brings life, clarity, and empathy? I think the best way is to listen to the situation, put yourself in their shoes and then give the best advice you can grounded in truth from the Word of God. (Proverbs is a huge help in practical, common sense wisdom!) Do it in love and with kindness.

Sometimes I wonder why I don’t have victory in a certain area. Both James and Paul connect our speech to physical addictions. (Eph. 5, James 3). Could it be that when I traffic in negative speech it hinders victory over physical addictions? Wrong speech can keep us in a vicious cycle of addiction.

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” — Old Saying

There’s a song by Hawk Nelson called Words. I heard it a couple months ago and it hit me as I was driving. I want my words to point people to Christ. I want my words to lift up and bring life to those around me.

They’ve made me feel like a prisoner
They’ve made me feel set free
They’ve made me feel like a criminal
Made me feel like a king

They’ve lifted my heart
To places I’d never been
And they’ve dragged me down
Back to where I began

Words can build you up
Words can break you down
Start a fire in your heart or
Put it out

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don’t wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

You can heal the heartache
Speak over the fear
God, Your voice is the only thing
We need to hear

“A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!” — James 3:3-7

My thoughts and quotes from the Meeting Place Message on 4/29/14 by Bob Deering. Image credit: 115 Words of Life by Janus Castrence