There are times that I sit to write and the words tumble out.  Frustratingly they are not in any order or have any continuity. They are just tumbling onto the page making little sense. For the most part we take words for granted. We open our mouths and they fall out. Like sitting and typing, they just litter the page. We have so little understanding, so little reverence for the power of our words. What if we believed words to be sacred creations, worthy of being uttered or shared only after thoughtful consideration and with constructive intent? Would we hurt less feelings? Create less dissension? Invoke less anger?

Is it still possible to use our words to build people up, create unity and to calm turbulent waters?

Recently I heard a random but interesting thing … Listen and Silent have the exact same letters.  I don’t know why that struck me, other than unless you are silent, you really can’t listen.

In the recent past an average human being’s words could reach only a limited number of people. Few people wrote. Fewer people wrote words that reached even a thousand people. But now we live in a time when our written words can reach thousands and tens of thousands of people daily. Go “viral” and you can touch a few hundred thousand people – mind boggling.

Words have the power to heal or to wound, to create unity or dissent, to build or to destroy. Is it not true, that a single string of words can build you up or tear you down? Most often the words that build you up will linger for days, or maybe weeks.  Yet, the words that tore you down can linger for months, years, even a lifetime. A careless set of words in the news or social media can create a firestorm … a firestorm of more words ripping and tearing through the media.

So what do you do with your words?

Are you using them to inspire, to build up, to create harmony?  Or are you using them in anger, frustration and even malice? I thought, this would be a great place to put a small biblical reference, so I googled, “What does the bible say about the power of words.”  It returned 100 verses.  Without even searching deep – 100.

Funny, none of them said “Pick your words carefully, except in an election year.”  None said, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned, unless you are talking about the other candidate.”  Here are a couple I did find:

Matthew 12:37 ESV
For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Matthew 12:36 ESV
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,

Matthew 15:18 ESV
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

So what do you do with your words? If you are a believer, then you know that we are not to be seduced by the world we live in. This includes your words. We strive to not cuss, not gossip and to not slander others. Yet, if it’s an election year, all bets are off. Or, I’m just reposting what someone else wrote or posted so it doesn’t really count. Or I thought it was funny.

We have 5 weeks left, plus the aftermath of smearing of whomever does get elected. Rise above it.

Ephesians 4:29 ESV
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

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