Welcome back friends and shalom.
Have you ever considered how the seven days of the biblical creation came about by God’s spoken word?
While homeschooling, we have covered the creation account more than once and we just completed reading through it again. Part of my girls’ assignments were to illustrate each day of creation while simultaneously learning to read (for my middle child) in a simplified easy read version of the story. Over and over, we read that “God said” followed by His spoken words. Two things to consider: creation came into existence by words, and we are made in God’s image. Both truths are found in the creation account (Genesis 1-2:3). Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that we live in the overwhelming reality that when we speak, our words are creating “worlds”. Proverbs 18:21 supports this: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words” (AMP). Let’s just a take a moment to really reflect on that. If we were to take measure of what kind of worlds we created in today alone, would they be worlds of life or worlds of death? This is a powerful and confrontational heart check.
Homeschooling comes with a daily opportunity to witness what world I am creating. It’s a discussion-by-discussion, sometimes minute-by-minute reality for me to be aware of the words I’m intentionally choosing. I have no “pass” to overlook the words I speak. Something I taught my girls early on was to check their words. Any time their choice of words is questionable, I ask, “Are your words speaking life or are they speaking death?” Usually, they answer with conviction. And then I follow up asking, “Who speaks life?” “Jesus”, they respond. “And who speaks death?” “Satan”, they mutter. Finally, I exhort by asking, “Who do we want to sound like?” And without hesitation they shout, “Jesus!” Jesus is always the answer.
Scripture is clear that we should speak carefully. James 1:19 bluntly says we should be quick to hear and slow to speak. I am sure we have all heard that we there is a reason we have two ears and only one mouth. James continues to say, “And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself (3:6 NLT). This verse is clear that by default in our sinful nature, our words naturally create a world of wickedness! And without the enabling of the Holy Spirit, we are told no one can tame the tongue (3:8). I highly recommend that we all read James chapter three regularly to remind us to keep our tongue in check.
Another key area of scripture is found in Ephesians chapter four. Specifically in verses twenty-one through thirty-two, Paul writes how a Christian ought to be living:
Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
25So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
28If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
30And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
31Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (NLT)
I provide these verses for context, but I want us to zoom in at verse twenty-nine: “Don’t use foul or abusive language.” Other translations say, “unwholesome talk/word”, “corrupt word/speech”, “foul language”, “dirty talk”, “anything that would hurt [another person]” and the Amplified translation further clarifies in the brackets, “[foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth” (emphasis mine). In my understanding, there is no appropriate time to ever speak in such a way that is vulgar and hurtful about myself or any other person. This isn’t a suggestion. It’s clear instruction on how a Christian ought to speak. Most of the time, our words are the first representation of our character, especially when we meet new people and make a first impression. I will know quickly if I want to hang around someone simply based off my first communication interaction with them. I am in no way trying to sound like a Pharisee, I just take the Bible seriously. It is the authoritative word of God for my life and my life should reflect that and it begins with my words. We are even commanded in Deuteronomy 6:6 that God’s words are to be in our heart. Luke 6:45 summarizes it this way: “A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart” (HCSB). If our hearts are overflowing with God’s words, then words of life will flow from our mouth.
The second half of verse twenty-nine says that our words should be an encouragement to those who hear them. I sometimes think when people read that verse, they think encouragement is something you offer to children primarily. And while we should encourage children, adults need the encouragement even more. My favorite verse on encouragement is in Hebrews 3:13: “But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception” (HCSB). We should be encouraging at least one person each day. And if you are married that can be your spouse. If you have children, encourage them daily. There is always something we can encourage our loved ones with. For example: Instead of getting frustrated that my child is having difficulty understanding something, I can encourage her saying sometimes things take longer to understand but more reason to ask the Holy Spirit to help her understand when she feels stuck. We should always be asking the Holy Spirit to give us understanding when we are stuck on something. Even if I were to never leave my house, I have four people I can encourage daily. Let’s do some math. If I were to encourage the four people in my home every day for a year, that would be a total of 1,460 opportunities to encourage. While I feel I do a good job of encouraging people regularly, I am nowhere near encouraging 1,460 times annually.
After reading that verse in Hebrews intentionally awhile back, I asked myself what life would be like if no one ever encouraged me. How would I feel? I imagine I would be very discouraged. That is a hard life to imagine as I am surrounded by people who encourage me regularly. I am grateful for that. And let’s make sure we are not overcomplicating the idea of encouraging someone. It can be as simple as encouraging my child to try again after “messing up” their artwork or it can be as heart-felt reminding a friend in a struggle to keep their eyes on God as their source and provision. There is a limitless number of opportunities for us to encourage people, whether they are a stranger or a loved one.
Going back to the passage in Ephesians chapter four, the very next verse says, “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption” (4:30). A more popularly quoted translation says, “And don’t grieve the Holy Spirit.” After we are given all the things not to do, we can infer then that if we do those sinful things, we are grieving the Holy Spirit, bringing sorrow to Him. This makes me think of a child-parent relationship. I bet we can all think of a time a parent found out a sin we committed and then became disappointed in us. Perhaps they didn’t talk to us for a couple of days because it grieved them so much. They knew they had taught us better than to commit the sin we did. In the same way, God has given us His holy word and His Holy Spirit to guide and direct our lives. So, when we go around speaking in an unwholesome way (or committing any other sin), we are bringing sorrow to the Holy Spirit. I heard my pastor say, “We are Kings kids”, therefore, we ought to live in a such a way that represents our royalty, co-heirs with Christ.
Ephesians chapter four concludes by once again stating, “Get rid of…harsh words and slander” (4:31). It’s as if the Holy Spirit really doesn’t want us to downplay our words. I am sure that if you had to rank speaking unwholesome words on a sin scale, it wouldn’t make the top three worst sins and perhaps not even the top five. Nevertheless, it is a sin that Christ shed His blood for.
As Christians, we must take inventory of our words. We need to micromanage what we say so that we aren’t creating worlds of death around us. James 3:5 tells us to consider how a large forest can be ignited by a small fire. Even though the tongue is a small spart of the body, it plays a huge role in our lives and our lives reflect if we are speaking life or if we are speaking death. Referring to the tongue, James continues to say: “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things should not be this way. Does a spring pour out sweet and bitter water from the same opening” (3:9-11 HCSB)? As believers, we cannot go back and forth speaking life one day and then speaking death. First Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in everything” and Ephesians 5:20 says, “…giving thanks always for everything” (emphasis mine, HCSB). Regardless of life’s circumstances, we must resolve to speak life in both the favorable and unfavorable times.
One final note about speaking life, consider how Jesus spoke when He walked this earth. The disciples recognized that every word Jesus spoke was life giving. Simon Peter even said, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life” (John 6:68 NLT). Paul teaches us that Christ gave Himself for the church “to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word” (emphasis mine, Ephesians 5:25-26 HCSB). How did Christ give Himself to the church? By dying for our sins. And through His death, we were made holy therefore, our words should also be holy.
Friends, I hope I have been able to convey how important our words are. The truth is, we are either speaking life or speaking death; there is no gray area. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words” (Proverbs 18:21 AMP). Our words are creating worlds. Are we creating worlds of life or of death? I echo Moses’ exhortation to the Israelites: “Choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
Holy Spirit, would you expose any area in our life that we may be speaking death? Would you then help us to begin speaking life. Help us to remember our words are to be holy, set apart from the rest of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.