“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Proverbs 18:21, NKJV
Words Matter!
I’m taking a risk to share this.
Yesterday was an important anniversary for me. It marked the 5th year of a journey to recover the person God intended me to be. It has not been pretty! I believe He invited me into that journey because of a prayer I’d prayed seven months prior. On June 10th, 2018, I prayed, “Father, change me or kill me, and I don’t care which.” This was a desperate plea from a man who was buckling under the weight of his own failures, doubt and perceived worthlessness.
For five years, I searched for the “smoking gun” that had created all this havoc I lived in, and I searched for the “silver bullet” that would fix it. There were so many contradictions in what I believed, felt, and experienced compared to what I understood the Holy Scriptures to state as indisputable facts. There were many! One was, “Know the Truth and the Truth will set you free!”
It was like two different persons living in one body. Even over these past five years, they have both shown up from time to time … sometimes the redeemed and restored son of the Sovereign Lord and sometimes a very broken orphan boy who had to hustle for his worth. (BTW, I wasn’t an actual orphan.)
Through this journey, there have been many things excavated, but none seemed to be the “smoking gun” until this week. I knew the Son, THE Truth, but … I also believe some lies. The lies we believe in our core are sometimes buried so deep and hidden behind even veils of “righteousness” that we don’t bother to look there.
Almost 40 years ago, I had a word spoken over me that came from a source I respected and even admired at that time. To some level, I even aspired to become like them. Those words became death to me. I ate its fruit because it had to be true; after all, this was a very reliable source.
I’m curious how the next five years will look.
If you are reading this and you’re a parent, grandparent, a church leader, a “friend,” a spouse, a boss, a co-worker, an adviser, a brother, sister, aunt, uncle … well, pretty much anyone, right? Guard your words! Speak Life into people, not death. It matters!
Before you speak ill of the addict, the harlot, the drunk, the rebellious teen, the defiant brat, the raggedly dressed sinner who wished he were worthy enough to sit on your back pew at church, the panhandler, the incarcerated, the dude who just cut you off, the cashier who was so rude, etc., first remember that your righteousness is as filthy rags, and second, remember that you, as an ambassador of truth, need to help liberate people from the lies and deception of the enemy, not pile on.
I’m trusting God for more Grace and more compassion for His broken and wounded. After all, in Matthew 9, Jesus looked across the multitudes and was moved with compassion. The victim and the perpetrator were both in the crowd! As a matter of fact, they were often one and the same!
LS