I’ve just finished teaching a short series on the supernatural power of words in the life of a believer. I need to teach on the power of our words from time to time because I need to be reminded. As believers, we need to continually guard our hearts and minds so that we are not hijacked by our culture.
Right now, every time I turn on the news or a talk show, my blood pressure goes up almost instantaneously. The constant war of words on the airways is irritating. Solomon said, “Where there are many words, sin is not absent” (Prov.10:19). That must be more true today that at any time in history. Culturally, truth seems to have been put on the top shelf of the closet to be brought out only on very rare occasions.
It seems that everyone has become a “spin doctor”. Everyone claims that the words they spoke clearly last week do not mean what you thought they meant. In fact, they mean just the opposite even though the videotape contradicts the claim. It seems that the most responsibility anyone will take for the hugely inaccurate things spoken a week ago is that they were not as clear as they should have been. That’s like me telling you (Col.3:9) that I want you to paint my living room “sage green” and after you do so, I tell you that what I said was “canary yellow” and I expect you to repaint it. After you protest, I simply say that you misunderstood or, perhaps, I wasn’t as clear as I should have been but you still need to absorb the time and cost because you should have understood “sage green” to mean “canary yellow.” That kind of communication makes us all crazy.
In a culture that decided decades ago that all truth is relative and that everyone has his or her own truth, this kind of double talk should probably be expected. My concern is that we, as believers, might be infected with the same mind set that words really don’t matter and that we should never be held accountable for what we say. But, as Christians, we don’t live in a kingdom where “truth is relative.” We live in a kingdom where truth is absolute and unchanging. We live in a kingdom where we are to speak the truth in love (Eph.4:15), put away all lying (Col.3:9), and let our “Yes” be “Yes” and our “No” be “No” (Mt.5:37).
Words are extremely important. In fact, Jesus tells us that on the Day of Judgment we will have to give account for every careless word (Mt.12:36). We are ambassadors of Christ on an alien planet. We should always reflect the culture of heaven and the character of our King in everything we say. In fact, in every circumstance we should try to sense what our King would say, if he were present, and speak only as he would speak. Words have power. As a believer, a priest, a king, and an ambassador of Christ in the earth, your words have authority and power. Jesus spoke, not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man and see what power his words carried.
Our words have amazing potential to create good or evil both in the natural and spiritual realms. God is very clear that he wants our lips to be a source of life not death to every person and every circumstance. He is clear that fresh, life-giving water is to come forth from our hearts rather than salt water which brings death when given to often to living things. We are to be a constant source of blessing, rather than cursing, and we should speak clearly with integrity as a people who do what we say because our Father always does what he says. May our words be pleasing to God (Ps.19:14) and may our speech be unique in our culture. Peter called on us to speak as if we are speaking the very words of God (1 Pet. 4:11). In doing so we will be set apart from the world around us. May we be honest, kind, and yet direct in the things we say and may our words be full or grace and life to all those around us…and by the way, that includes the things we say to our spouse and children behind closed doors. Be blessed.
