Sticks and stone will break my bonesbut words will never hurt me. We’ve undoubtedly said it as a child. Maybe we even believed it. But I’m not convinced it’s all that true. I recently read an article that stated words are never neutral. How powerful a statement that one is! A lot of times we tend to think that just because we aren’t speaking something derogatory or overtly harmful that our words carry little to no weight at all. But the truth of the matter is our words are always filled with power.
Words can either build up or tear down. They have the ability to encourage, equip, teach, train, and set someone on the right path. But they also have the power to tear down, break apart, destroy, and even kill someone’s spirit.
Our words are always working whether we want to admit it or not. The only question is what work are they doing? As we seek to choose our words perhaps we should take a little extra time to make sure the words that come from our mouths are less like strikes from a sword and more like healing touches.
Jesus tells us that what we put in our bodies doesn’t dictate what’s inside us, but what comes out of our mouth is what really matters. The mouth is like the window to the entire body. People can see into our heart and soul by just listening to the words that flow from our lips. If someone were to gaze into your window, what would they see?
This isn’t meant to be judgmental, just eye opening. Take time to slow your speech. Listen to the words that are forming in your head before you let them out. Think about the power that each word carries before you blurt out the anger or frustration that’s in your head.
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