“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21).
Heavenly Father we have come into Your Throne Room seeking Your blessing! We realize that we cannot make it in this life without You. We need Your wisdom in order to do everything for Your glory. So please abide with us and teach us what we need to learn in order to glorify Your name! In the blessed name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
As children, some of us have heard our parents repeat the words of our topic: “Watch your tongue!” Immediately, we knew what they meant. “Be careful what you say! That usually means, “You may regret what you say.”
So why are our words so important?
Another look at the first half of our verse for today gives us an idea. We can commit murder, or give life, by the things we say. This can take place at home, at school, at work, and even at church; the last place you would expect someone to be murdered! After all, isn’t church the place where rivers of living waters flow? Where the bread of life is served?
So how can this be? The second half of our verse answers the question: “Those who love to talk (love the power of the tongue) will reap its harvest of death or life.”
I have heard people say, “Talk is cheap.” I believe I know what they mean, but I respectfully disagree. From my perspective, talk is never cheap! Words are loaded! They are very costly. Many people have taken God’s Word and used it to do say what they wanted it to say and to do what they wanted it to do; not what God intended it to say, or sent it forth to do. That is like putting arsenic in distilled water. It can cause death, and oftentimes, it does.
When exercising the gift of speech, use it carefully, use it well! Our gifts are given to us to bring honor and glory to God, and to bless those who come under our influence. I refer to speech as a gift and it is. It can give hope to people who are broken and hopeless! It can give strength, to someone who has been given a diagnosis of death, to fight back, and live way beyond the years that doctors said they would!
Such speech can produce a harvest of life for those who speak, as well as for those who receive the spoken word. That is material for another day, that, we who speak, are also affected by our own words
Our words can also bring discouragement and hopelessness, as we will see, when we continue this conversation.
Therefore, some good advice to all of us, is, “watch your tongue!”