There’s a book of the Bible called Proverbs, which is actually a compilation or collection of wisdom written by ancient sages. It offers instruction for living and says this about our words:
“The tongue can bring death or life; those that love to speak will reap the implications.” – Proverbs 18:21
The point is that words are mini things filled with mighty consequences, for higher or worse… for good or bad…for healing or harm.
Words have power. When we expect of the facility of words, we are able to all consider hurtful words we’ve sent, said, or heard and received. Words others have spoken over us, or we’ve spoken over ourselves. We all have words that keep us up at night or words we’ve tried to forget. One word can wreck someone’s self-esteem, spoil their fame, end a relationship, or destroy someone’s profession.
On the opposite hand, the book of Proverbs also says this about words:
“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”- Proverbs 16:24
Again, words have power. Words can reconcile people and make peace. Words could make marriages sweet, families strong, and communities healthy. Words can provide hope to the despairing, start revolutions, make meaningful change, and produce healing. Our words have the facility to bring hope and healing, to talk life, to empower, to like, and to encourage. Our words have the facility to alter the trajectory of somebody’s life for good.
The book of Genesis, the primary book of the Bible, tells us that God spoke and life happened. It’s the way in which the Bible tells our origin story; that is the Bible’s way of describing our ontology and cosmology.
- God spoke stars; there have been stars.
- God spoke light; there was light.
- God spoke animals; there have been animals.
We don’t know who that happened, but what we all know is that God speaks and truly makes life occur.
The Bible also says that you just and I were created within the image of God. That means we were made to image God, to reflect God, to point out God’s love and goodness to the world around us. And one of the powerful ways we try this is with our words.
In the identical way, God speaks, and life is formed, we’ve been made, created, and called to talk life into one another, to talk life into our neighbors, our co-workers, and our members of the family. This isn’t only a fun, cutesy, positive thing to do. It’s a method we live out our image-of-God ness.
Even Jesus spoke and healed people. Jesus said, “Get up,” and folks that were pretty much as good as dead got up!
It’s rough on the market on social media, over text, online. People are awful to one another. They trample one another, and every kind of poisonous things occur with our words. But what if we selected something different? What if you happen to are the counter-liturgy to all that word destruction and word vomit on the market?
Going back to our verse of Proverbs 16:24:
“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
How will we begin selecting “honeycomb words”?
- Choose hopeful, healing words often, intentionally, and consistently; make this a habit.
Start by committing to talk healing words day-after-day. Put a reminder in your phone. Speak honeycomb words this week to all of the people you come across – at home, at work, in coffee shops, in traffic, etc.. Commit to speaking powerful words of healing, encouragement, and life to those people in those places day-after-day this week.
2. If you should select empowering, healing words, you should cultivate a healed, empowered character. Give your words weight and gravitas due to life you reside and the guts you cultivate. A lifetime of integrity creates words that matter. So, select a lifetime of consistency, gratitude, patience, and faithfulness. Then your words can have real influence.
In a world that’s bent on squishing, smashing, slandering, and silencing each other, we are able to select a greater way—Jesus’s way of speaking LIFE to people, with not much equipment in any respect…just these little things called our mouths.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Wasan Tita
