Mid-Week Message - Words

"A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.  And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgement day for every idle word you speak.  The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you."  Matthew 12:35-37  (NLT) 

Words.  By placing one after another we can compose the most beautiful songs ever heard or horrific curses that can cause fear and trembling.  The "great American novel" can be written or we can bring those around us to their knees.  

From the time our children are born we look forward to their first word.  What will they say first?  Every parent longs to hear either "mama" or "dada".  As they grow they learn the power of language from their parents and siblings, or, from the television that may be on all day.  

My daughter loved nature shows and she was a little human sponge, soaking up knowledge of animals and the facts about them.  In first grade, when the teacher was teaching about prefixes, she was asking the students to think of words they knew that began with the "re" prefix.  Words such as "reward", "redo" and "return" were mentioned.  But when my little one had her turn, her word was "regurgitate."  She then began to tell her classmates just what that meant.  Needless to say, she had a large vocabulary at an early age.  

We use our words to express ourselves and relate to one another.  We use them for educational purposes and in prayer.  It is how we convey our thoughts and feelings and how we share encouragement. love, rudeness or hate.  

However we speak, whatever we choose to say, we are responsible for.  Whether in public or private, our words matter.  We may think no one will ever know what we have said, but God knows.  If we carefully choose our words while we are around other people but use racial slurs or curses in the privacy of our homes, it matters.  Our words reveal the condition of our hearts.

In all things, we should glorify the Lord.  If we are struggling with our thoughts or words, we need to ask Him to change our hearts so that all we say and do will be a blessing to others, whether they can hear us or not.  Hateful words cannot be unsaid and we can never know when they might be overheard and cause pain.  Aside from hurting others, they are damaging to ourselves because we are sinning against the Lover of our Souls.  

Life can be very discouraging and we face so many things that are upsetting or angering.  If we ask our Father to help us take every thought captive and to help us control what comes out of our mouths, He will do so.  By exposing ourselves more to His Word and spending more time with Him, we can begin to think first and avoid speaking things that we shouldn't.  When we make inappropriate choices we need to catch ourselves and repent.  As we do so, we will reinforce what we are learning and real changes will take place.

I wish you all a peaceful week and I pray for Him to guide us all as we navigate the paths set before us.  God Bless!