Speaking Words

This next section of articles will be focused on the words we speak. We will consider concepts having to do with our tongue, mouth, speaking, saying, talking, and confessing. We will revisit the nature of words from Article # 2. We will review some scriptures and look at new ones.

Words Matter
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21) This scripture alone should scream at us that we absolutely must consider the words we speak. Death and Life…it doesn’t get more basic than that. It is imperative that we realize our words matter! They are powerful enough to create life and death, not only in our lives, but in the lives of other people. Parents know this concept…”Watch your tongue, boy!” Does that sound familiar to anyone?

James also talks about the tongue. (James 3:1-9) He says the tongue is a small part of the body, but has power over the body. Like a bit in the mouth of a horse, or a small rudder on a ship, which can turn the horse or the ship in the midst of a storm, our mouths can turn our whole bodies. He goes on to say that our tongues are a fire, a small spark of a fire that can destroy a whole forest. So our tongues can destroy our whole bodies. “It (the tongue) corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” He says if anyone is able to control the tongue, he is a perfect, mature man, able to keep his whole body in check.

This sounds to me like what comes out of our mouths is much more powerful than we have thought! It is serious stuff! Death, life, and a fire… our tongues, the words we speak, may be the most important part of our bodies. They set and establish the course and direction of our lives. This means we can turn our lives one direction or another by the words we speak (like the rudder on a boat). What direction are our lives going? Are we satisfied with them, or would we like to change them? Our words can create a path of destruction, leaving behind rubble and ruined lives (started with the small spark of a fire). I picture trees that were once green and healthy ending up black and dead. Our words have enough power to do that in someone’s life! That is devastatingly sad. Or, we can leave a legacy of life and vitality, creating a thriving forest or greenhouse in someone’s life!

Let’s consider a similar analogy. Houses, like trees, or forests, are also burned down by a spark of a fire. Picture our lives as a house. Maybe it needs a little repair, a new coat of paint, some flowers blooming in the yard. Then a neighbor comes along and says something negative, ugly, or untrue. The house loses a little more paint, the window breaks, the plumbing goes haywire, what little grass was in the yard turns brown, and the trees and shrubs decay. If more people come by and speak some of those same kinds of things, our house might burn down altogether. However, maybe other people, possibly a friend or even a stranger, comes along and says something positive or encouraging to us. The house brightens up – perhaps it just got that new coat of paint – the window got a new window pane, the grass is watered and turns green, the plumber fixed the plumbing free of charge, and our yard has beautiful flowers in it along with healthy green trees. And all of these things happen because of the words spoken by someone’s tongue. That is powerful!

Our tongues can create death or life. They can turn our lives around to go a different direction. They can destroy a life, including our own, or they can build up and create a thriving life full of wisdom and maturity. The choice is ours. We each must decide how to use our tongues, whether to speak words of life or words of death, words to build up or words to destroy. What an exciting opportunity we have to change our lives, and to make a positive difference in someone else’s life! The choice is ours!