“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad,for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good,when you are evil?For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you,on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:33-37
I don't know about you, but if I believed the word of God, these words of Jesus would frighten me! Wait...I do, and yes they do! Consider for a minute: Creation came about by the speaking of a word, The skies closed and open from rain with the speaking of words, the sick are healed and the dead rise at the speaking of words. So why do we throw them around so carelessly? In the age of Social Media, many of us (and I am guilty) speak a lot, and the words we use are so empty! We talk, but don't really say anything, if we really go back and examine our feed. We say so many things without regard to whether or not it's true, and cities burn and lives are forever marked by the words we speak. Here's an illustration I used when I worked Youth Ministry:
A little boy spread a rumor about his best friend at school, using her as collateral to look cool in front of another group of boys. When she confronted him on it, she tearfully said "I never want to see you again!" Distressed, he ran to his preacher, and asked "What can I do to make this better?" The preacher handed him a bag of feathers and said "Go to the middle of town, and empty this bag, and when you've done that, come back here." Thinking this was strange, but willing to do anything, the little boy did as he was told.
When he'd thrown the last feather to the wind, he came back to the preacher and said "Now what?" to which the preacher replied "Now, go and collect each one of those feathers back up again, and put them back in the bag." "I can't! they've all blown away!" the little boy cried in frustration. "In the same way, you can't take back the words you've said once you've said them. All you can do now is be careful with what you say, and how you say it."
Use your words wisely, for "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits."( Proverbs 18:21)
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