Words, Pt. 2
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Who has said this at some point in life when words cut through them like a hot knife through butter? Words do hurt and they can hurt a lot! For many people, even as adults, we still struggle with something which was said to us even in childhood which haunts us nearly every day of our lives. It could have been a teacher, a parent, a friend, or a sibling. It could have been someone saying, “you are fat,” “you are ugly,” “you are stupid,” “you will never amount to anything,” or a whole host of other negatives which hurt deeply and have never seemed to heal.
Often, the person saying the negative words to us does not even remember saying them. Almost certainly the person never really meant what was said and would probably apologize today if he/she knew their words were causing a problem! In other cases they did mean it, but we are letting them have the victory by letting it continue to bother us. Who has not said something in ignorance on occasion? Someone’s words affect us today; literally because we let their words effect us today. As hard as it may seem to do so, we desperately need to give this hurt over to God.
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesians in chapter 4 and verse 29 of his letter said, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it might impart grace to the hearer.” We need to be very careful what we say and how we say it because people’s lives are often on the line. There are times we need to bite out tongue and say nothing whereas other times we need to speak up and not let something slide. The key is to say whatever we say in a spirit of love and humility. We are no better than anyone else really when you come down to it. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. Some have made wiser choices than others, but that does not mean you are better than they, unless you truly believe in a solely works based salvation which the Bible does not teach.
We need to look high and low for ways to uplift one another. As Christmas is approaching you shop carefully for those whom are the closest to you, yet sometimes our harshest and most cutting words are reserved for those same loved ones. It seems amazing how polite we can be to a total stranger and then cut our spouse, our parents, our children down to nothing. Is this wise use of our words? Of course it is not. Our calling is a higher and nobler one!
As the Apostle Paul commends us, let us seek diligently to impart grace, the particular grace of God, to those who hear us. Let us use our speech to uplift and magnify the message of Jesus Christ!
In Christ,
Pastor Allen Raynor