The Power of Words

Words. Words can bring great joy.

"Will you marry me?" "It's a boy!"

Or great sorrow. "It's cancer." "I'm sorry. He didn't make it."

Words have begun wars and ended them. Words can hurt or words can heal. Words make the world go round. Consider these facts. There are over 55 million newspapers delivered in the United States on a daily basis. Over 300 talk radio shows air on a daily basis. No one has accurate number of websites currently on the World Wide Web but it is estimated at 100 million. Facebook and MySpace, social utility sites for connecting individuals, both have over 110 million users. Words are vital to our daily lives and yet we often toss them around carelessly. The Bible has a great deal to say about our words and the use of our tongue. James says in James 1:26, If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

Jesus himself says that we will give account for every careless word we say. "Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation." Matthew 12:35-36 (The Message)

The Lord has been working on me lately about my words, how I use them, how I say them, and what I say. One of my greatest desires is to be a mature believer, one who glorifies the Lord. James says in his epistle that a mature believer is one who can control his tongue. James goes on in chapter 3 of his epistle to tell us how difficult that it is to control the tongue and the words that proceed from it.

James 3:7-8. 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.

I grew up in a family where sarcasm was our family sport. We teased and poked fun at one another often, but it was always in love. However, when I became an adult and used this tactic with others it sometimes went very wrong. I have had to learn to control my sarcasm and my tongue and it has not been easy. Proverbs 12:18 says, Speaking recklessly is like the thrusts of a sword, but the words of the wise bring healing. I regret to say that I have used my words like a sword to cut and wound others.

Reading the book of James, I wonder if the writer also had this problem. James was the half brother of Jesus. Did he ever use his tongue sarcastically to belittle his older brother? Can you imagine growing up in the shadow of a "perfect" brother? Talk about a family being ripe for sibling rivalry! Yet James writes this about the power of words:

James 3: 3-5. 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.

Did James write these words from experience, I wonder? Did he know what it was like to throw out a careless or wrongly placed word? Proverbs says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue. All of us at one time have been the recipients of words which have felt like death to us.

Before we came to FBC, Mike pastored a church in another city. We left that pastorate in 1994 and six months later we received a very hurtful, ugly,anonymous letter in the mail accusing us of ruining the church. We were already grieving the loss of our church and church family The letter came at a very low time in our lives and for years was a painful heartache for us.

James 3: 9, Sometimes our mouths praise our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

With the invention of the personal computer, the internet, and email have come another way we abuse one another with our words. How easy it is to fire off an angry email at someone saying things and using words we might never say face to face. We think that email is impersonal and less confrontive when actually it is more harmful. There is no way of knowing the "tone" of an email and so we tend to read our own bias into it. We curse those "made in the image of God" through our words in an email.

What are we to do, then, to control this tongue? Shall we remain mute to keep from sinning? Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If we wish to change our speech, we must first change our hearts. This is something we cannot do but through the power of the Word of God. We must pour the Word of God into our hearts and let it change us from inside out.

My husband used to love to visit a restaurant called Cahoots on Park Street. He would go every Thursday and order the Thai Chicken Salad for lunch. When I came home on Thursdays, I knew what he had for lunch because of the "fragrance" of garlic around him.

Our lives are to give off the fragrance of Christ. What we put into our lives is what will come out. James tells us that our outward lives should reflect our inward beliefs.

James 3:13, "If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom."

How are we to obtain this wisdom? James says if you lack wisdom, ask God for it.

We are to pour scripture into our life. We are to prayerfully ask God to convict us of our sins, change our hearts, and give us wisdom on how to live holy lives that reflect his glory.

I can't help but think that it was through prayer that James was able to control his tongue. James' nickname was "camel knees;" a name he given to him because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer.

Oh how I desire words of blessing to come from my mouth; words that might bring life to another. The prayer of my heart is found in Psalm 19:14. I hope it is your prayer too.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Proverbs 17: 27

A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered

Proverbs 25: 11

Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.

Proverbs 21:23

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps himself out of trouble.

Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.

"Let my words be sweet for tomorrow I may have to eat them."