Watch Your Words

The Power of Words

There are times in our lives where we have experienced the harshness and the blessedness of words and actions of others, where we have been torn down and when we have been built up, when we have been broken and been healed. Whoever first coined the phrase, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” was either a fool or an idiot. The earliest known use of the proverb, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, occurred in The Christian Recorder, an American publication in 1862. It was used in a children’s rhyme to help children deal with bullying.

It sounds good in rhyme but not in real life and we must realize that. It happens to everyone including myself. The worst time in my life was when I was a pastor years ago and another pastor and myself were in a meeting and a family was upset about something that had nothing to do with us, they just took it out on us some things were said to us that crushed us and that moment has always stuck with me, in fact they hurt me a great deal, I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone about that conversation and won’t now, all that matters is that words can hurt, actions can hurt and we must be aware of how these things affect our faith, reveal our faith, and the impact they can have.

Words matter, actions matter and James encourages us to be aware of that and how we treat each other as the body of Christ, of how we treat one another and how we care for each other. James calls us to rise above the standards of this world of how we see our brothers and sisters and embrace mercy. He challenges us to reflect God’s heart by choosing mercy over judgment and see each other as a part of God’s kingdom.

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers (193: Faith)

In April 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the group as they fell and opened their parachutes. On the film shown on the telecast, as the final skydiver opened his chute, the picture went berserk. The announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without his parachute. It wasn’t until he reached for the absent ripcord that he realized he was freefalling without a parachute.

Until that point, the jump probably seemed exciting and fun. But tragically, he had acted with thoughtless haste and deadly foolishness. Nothing could save him, for his faith was in a parachute never buckled on. Faith in anything but an all-sufficient God can be just as tragic spiritually. Only with faith in Jesus Christ dare we step into the dangerous excitement of life.