Dave Weston - Director of Senior Adult Ministries

W O R D S

I occasionally go to Webster’s dictionary to find the meaning of a word.  Recently (out of curiosity), I looked up WORD.  I learned that a person who writes professionally, uses language skillfully, and/or coins new words is a wordsmith.  A word square is made of letters so arranged that they spell the same words in the same order horizontally and vertically.  And I read with interest several expressions that are commonly used.  To break one’s word, to have words with, and to take the words right out of one’s mouth are but a few.

Another book has a lot more to say about words–the Bible.  We discover that words are powerful!  According to the writer of Proverbs, “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit–you choose” (18:21, THE MESSAGE).

Wise is the man or woman who chooses their words carefully.  Read the words of the Psalmist:  “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (19:14, KJV).

I believe it is significant that “the words of my mouth” and “the meditation of my heart” are linked together for scripture also tells us that “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34, NIV).

Consider the following…

1. I will be held accountable for careless words (Matthew 12:36).
2. My words will reveal the real me.  All pretense will eventually be unmasked by the things I say.
3. My words will influence the kind of person I am.
4. My words will have a lasting impact on others.
5. There is no recall on our words.  Once spoken, they are gone forever.
6. Reject the old adage, “You might as well say it as to think it.”   WRONG!  There are times when it is best to remain silent.
7. “If only I had said something” is the flipside.  Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (KJV).

Our tool of communication, of course, is words.  In His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke powerful, life-transforming words.  He spoke “peace” to the troubled waves; “come out” to Lazarus; “pick up your mat and walk” to the invalid; “let not your heart be troubled” to His disciples; and to the woman caught in adultery, “neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

We are often told that “people are watching our lives.”  May I suggest they are also listening to our words.  My daily prayer is that of the Psalmist:  “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (141:3, NIV).