The Power of Words
I have a small card I keep on my desk at work. It’s about the size of a business card but the words on it are powerful. It says, “Words Kill. Words Give Life: They’re either poison or fruit-you choose. Proverbs 18:21 MSG
The reason I keep this card on my desk is as a reminder of how powerful words can be. If we look back over the years of our life we can probably remember every harsh or unkind word spoken to us. The problem is we quickly forget the harsh or unkind words we speak to others.
I told you in a previous devotional about the boss who told me I would never amount to anything. If I think about this statement and break it apart it isn’t quite so painful. If I look inside the person who spoke those words to me so long ago, I can find a lot of information about the person who spoke them. The woman who said those words was a division manager over a large group of stores. I could understand some of her resentment towards me at the time because she had paid for me to go to a different city to train for several weeks. She put me up in a hotel and paid for my meals.
I was in college at the time working towards a degree with a major in Fashion Merchandising. At the time I am sure she thought I had taken advantage of the circumstances because a month or so later I accepted a position with another retail store so that I could do my internship there instead of at her store. The truth was I didn’t even know about the other opportunity until long after she sent me to training.
At the time I was devastated by her words because
there I was a young senior college student and this woman is telling me I will
never amount to anything. I could have
let those words kill me. By kill me, I
mean I could have let them affect whether I graduated or not, I could have
stopped going to school altogether, I could have decided I wasn’t worth
anything because this woman said so.
The reason words have so much power over us is because
we forget Whose we are. If we think our
value is based on what the people around us say to us, instead of the value God
places on us, we will be broken by the words.
We all are guilty of speaking harsh words to
others and also having others speak harsh words to us. How we handle each circumstance is important
to God. If it wasn’t important He wouldn’t
have included the following words. “For out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure
of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of
the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for
every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of
judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you
will be condemned.”
The first thing I need to work on is my heart. Whatever comes out of my heart will be
reflected in my words to others. I pray
that God and others will forgive me for the harsh words I speak and that he
will cleanse my heart of evil.
Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, words
can destroy others. I have spoken harsh
words to others. I want to produce life
giving fruit with my words. I want to be
different from that boss from years ago who didn’t value my worth as You do. If
I say things that break another person down, I sin against everything You teach
us about love. Help me Father, to cleanse
my heart and control my tongue.
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