The Power of Words
“…but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” ESV James 3:8-9
We don’t say that word! How many times have we said that to our children? Why? Because as adults, we recognize the power of words and we want our children to use them wisely. We recognize their power to ruin reputations and relationships when misused. But at the same time, words can have a positive impact too.
As a young parent, I remember one of my children barking a request from the back seat of the car one day. Trying to be a gentle guide and good parent I asked, “What’s the magic word?” (fishing for ‘please’) to which I received the forceful reply, “Right now; I mean it!” For the life of me, I still can’t imagine where that came from; and from such a good kid!
‘I can’t believe he/she said that.’ How many times have you made that statement? What likely preceded that statement? A sharp word perhaps? Something easily taken out of context? Something downright rude or crude?
How about this one: ‘I can’t believe I said that.’ Ouch! There’s nothing quite like sticking your foot in your mouth. By the way, you can wedge your foot in there pretty tight with a pen or a keyboard too. I’ve become so conscious of it that I’ve got a one-minute delay on outgoing emails at work. And more than once, because I don’t like the taste of shoe leather, I’ve gone back and edited a message before it left.
I heard Paul Tripp point out a chilling reality at a conference last fall. He said that if we are honest, more often than not when we say “please forgive me, I didn’t meant to say that,” we should more truthfully beg “please forgive me for saying what I meant.” You see, nothing comes out of your mouth that wasn’t in your heart, even in the tiniest portion, to begin with.
On a personal note, let me confess a couple of things. I’ve said things in my own house that, in hind site, were uncalled for; even mean spirited at times. Thankfully, I’ve got a forgiving family. And just the other day in a committee meeting another member commented: “Ken, you’re so diplomatic.” But I felt obliged to tell them that diplomatic responses were not always the first thoughts to cross my mind. My point in sharing this is simply to let you know that I struggle with taming my tongue just like you do.
Our words have tremendous power. Used loosely and without careful consideration our words are capable of producing great harm. Used properly and carefully, our words our capable of producing great joy; even a joyful noise unto our Lord. Deliberately harness the power of your words this week so that your words are received with great joy.
Ken Askew
We don’t say that word! How many times have we said that to our children? Why? Because as adults, we recognize the power of words and we want our children to use them wisely. We recognize their power to ruin reputations and relationships when misused. But at the same time, words can have a positive impact too.
As a young parent, I remember one of my children barking a request from the back seat of the car one day. Trying to be a gentle guide and good parent I asked, “What’s the magic word?” (fishing for ‘please’) to which I received the forceful reply, “Right now; I mean it!” For the life of me, I still can’t imagine where that came from; and from such a good kid!
‘I can’t believe he/she said that.’ How many times have you made that statement? What likely preceded that statement? A sharp word perhaps? Something easily taken out of context? Something downright rude or crude?
How about this one: ‘I can’t believe I said that.’ Ouch! There’s nothing quite like sticking your foot in your mouth. By the way, you can wedge your foot in there pretty tight with a pen or a keyboard too. I’ve become so conscious of it that I’ve got a one-minute delay on outgoing emails at work. And more than once, because I don’t like the taste of shoe leather, I’ve gone back and edited a message before it left.
I heard Paul Tripp point out a chilling reality at a conference last fall. He said that if we are honest, more often than not when we say “please forgive me, I didn’t meant to say that,” we should more truthfully beg “please forgive me for saying what I meant.” You see, nothing comes out of your mouth that wasn’t in your heart, even in the tiniest portion, to begin with.
On a personal note, let me confess a couple of things. I’ve said things in my own house that, in hind site, were uncalled for; even mean spirited at times. Thankfully, I’ve got a forgiving family. And just the other day in a committee meeting another member commented: “Ken, you’re so diplomatic.” But I felt obliged to tell them that diplomatic responses were not always the first thoughts to cross my mind. My point in sharing this is simply to let you know that I struggle with taming my tongue just like you do.
Our words have tremendous power. Used loosely and without careful consideration our words are capable of producing great harm. Used properly and carefully, our words our capable of producing great joy; even a joyful noise unto our Lord. Deliberately harness the power of your words this week so that your words are received with great joy.
Ken Askew
posted by TBC at
3/25/2009 08:56:00 PM
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