Worthy Words: Speak Words That Breathe Life

I cannot speak for you, but I know that my tongue can be used to cause both evil and good. That two inch sword that rests behind my incisors can wound or it can speak life. It can harm or it can bless. It can deflate or it can strengthen. The Bible addresses the tongue often in Scripture, and for good reason, warning us of its potential evil as well as of its potential good. Indeed, James 3:8B tells us the tongue is “a restless evil full of deadly poison” which can be an apt description. Yet, it also tells us in Proverbs 16:24: “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” which can also be an apt description and a preferable one, I might add! 

While the tongue often gets the bad rap, it is actually giving vent to what is in one’s heart. For it is out of the overflow of a man’s heart that the mouth will speak. If we want your words to be encouraging and edifying then we must work on our own hearts, Amen? That is why King David wrote in Psalms 139:23-24:  “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The word translated “offensive” in the verse above means pain, labor, affliction and sorrow.  Whenever we are not standing firm in God’s will, choosing rather to wallow in the want of sin the result is always some sort of affliction or death to something because that is what sin reaps. God will never be mocked. What we sow, we will reap.

When our hearts are in line with God’s will through His power, our words will bring God glory. They will bless others with God’s gracious goodness, uplifting those in our spheres and not being the death nail that destroys them. Our words can breathe life to the listener, bringing both encouragement and hope – and hope does not disappoint. Rather than raping people with our words, pillaging them by our apathy or hate or hopelessness, we are to use our words to breathe the fresh air of life through His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control indwelling within every believer in sweet Jesus. Remember, “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones”. Watch the faces of the listeners when you speak. Their expressions will often bear witness to your words. Just as our words bear expression of our hearts.