Posts Tagged: the power of words

“THE POWER OF MY WORDS”

On October 26, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

 

 

“From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied;

                   he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.

          Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

                   and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

(Proverbs 18:20-21, English Standard Version)

According to Proverbs 18:21, words matter—a lot!  In fact, words are a matter of life and death.

Of course, in this verse death comes first.  That may be significant.  The usual word order when the Hebrew words for “life and death” is with “life” first.  The fact that, in Proverbs 18:21, death comes first may suggest that the Proverb writer is emphasizing the power of the tongue to destroy.

The Hebrew is very striking for the phrase “the power of the tongue.”  Literally, the first part of 18:21 would be translated, “Death in life are in the hand of the tongue”!

Now, lest we accuse the biblical writer of not knowing human anatomy, let me point out the obvious.  If you are anything like me, it may be precisely the obvious that you overlook.

We all use parts of the body to describe functions that are not, strictly speaking, bodily functions.  “Don’t try to strong-arm me into this!” we say, when we think somebody if being manipulative and pushy.  “I love her with all of my heart,” we say, even though we realize that the primary function of the heart is to pump blood.  “Oh, he always has his nose in the air,” we say, concerning someone who thinks he’s better than anyone else.

We have all experienced the power of words for harm us.  I wonder, sometimes, if we are always aware of the power of our own word to harm others.

We certainly need to cool a lot of the political rhetoric right now.  To pretend that the harsh, accusatory tone that is being used on all sides is simply “free speech” won’t cut it.  The president’s words have power, whether he knows it or not.  The president’s critics’ words also have power.

But perhaps we could begin with our own selves.  There is little point trying to get the president or his critics to tone down their rhetoric, if we are not willing to do so ourselves.

Perhaps we could begin with how we speak to the harried checkout clerk when we are waiting to pay for our coffee.  Perhaps we could work on speaking more gently and kindly to our wives and husbands, even our dogs.  We need to stop waiting for the Republicans and Democrats, Fox and CNN to use words more kindly and accurately.  We need to begin with ourselves.

 

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