Let’s get the facts…let’s be alert…let’s choose our words carefully, because ultimately we are responsible. Now, what did she want?”Īfter a short pause, the assistant replied: “RAIN!” The customer left with a rather quizzical look on her face, while the manager turned to the assistant and said rather tersely: “don’t you ever say we’re out of anything! Say we’ve got it on order and it’s coming soon. Like the young sales assistant who was overheard by the boss to say to a customer: “No we haven’t had any for a while and it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting any soon.” Incensed, the manager awkwardly interrupted (in an effort to save the situation) and said to the customer: “of course we’ll have some soon, we placed an order last week” Some of the most thoughtless things you and I say are when we go off half cocked, making judgements and accusations before we assess the situation. Let’s be responsible in what we say and how we say it. But I can grasp the point of the passage: the fact that words have eternal implications. Now I can’t get my head around the thought of every person being asked to explain every useless and thoughtless word they’ve ever said. Your words will be used to judge you – to declare you either innocent or guilty”. In the twelfth chapter of Matthew’s gospel Jesus says: “You can be sure that on the day of judgement everyone will have to give an account of every useless word they’ve ever spoken. People remember these sort of put downs spoken by parents, teachers, sporting coaches and so on and the effects can be devastating. Like: “you’ll never amount to anything” or “you’ll always be hopeless, just like your father”. I’ve talked to individuals who can remember way back when certain negative things were said about them. I’ve done a lot of counselling over the years and I’m amazed at the effect words have on individuals. It’s easy to fly off the handle and say the first thing that comes into our mind, but the potential damage of such action can be permanent and very hurtful. Of course, it comes down to discipline and choice. In Colossians 4:6 Paul says: “Your speech should always be pleasant and interesting – you should know how to give the right answers to everyone.” That’s a tall order – but it’s certainly an ideal worth striving for. Yes, words have power and our selection of words will cause people to either aspire or expire and give up in discouragement. However, I got to a stage of maturity where I was able to ask: Am I going to give these words of unfair criticism more power than the word of God which originally called me into the ministry? Over the years as a Christian leader I’ve had my fair share of criticism and in the early days it used to really get to me. Someone has said that no one can make you feel bad without your permission. Sometimes we give words their power in that we let them get to us! This is particularly so with criticism. We can all say words that either encourage, affirm, congratulate or words that hurt, criticise and condemn. We only have to look in our own homes, our offices, our neighbourhoods, our families. As one who does a lot of speaking in my work, it was a moving experience to think that here was the setting where one of the most powerful speeches in modern history was delivered.īut we don’t have to look at the great world leaders to know about the power of words. Some years ago, I visited Washington in the US and stood on the steps of the Lincoln memorial where Dr Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech in August 1963. On the big canvas of history, the speeches of great leaders have shaped the destiny of millions of people. One of the strong messages of Proverbs is: words have power. Proverbs 11:9 says: “You can be ruined by the talk of godless people, but the wisdom of the righteous can save you”. Be that as it may in what it says about how we should talk, it’s spot on. The book of the Bible that contributes more than any other to the topic of words and speech is Proverbs: it’s controversial and is seen by some as merely a series of quaint little sayings, many of which seem to lack the spiritual depth and insights of other parts of the scriptures. Surprisingly, for something that takes so much of our time, the Bible doesn’t offer that much direct teaching about speech and conversation, but what it does say is fairly direct and compelling. Researchers tell us we spend up to 20 per cent of our entire lives talking! That’s on top of the 1/3 of our time spent sleeping! So, from a Christian perspective it’s reasonable to ask the question: what does the Bible teach about how we should talk? What does it say about the tone of our conversation…the words we should use and so on?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |