NearnessSample

Whenever I am at a wedding or a birthday party and the speeches are about to start, I can’t help but feel anxious. It feels like everyone in the room is perched on a precipice at that moment, and we could be taken in one of two directions: the next few minutes could be very good… or they could be very bad. It all hinges on the words the speech-giver chooses. With their words, they could build up—with encouragement, kindness, and joy—or tear down, with poorly chosen stories, cruel jokes, or cutting comments.

This moment of pre-speech anxiety reminds me that words are powerful. Since they hold potential for both immense good or immense damage, the way we speak matters.

This is what these verses in Proverbs are also telling us. How we speak matters. What we say to one another matters. Words can build or break community. Or, as Proverbs 18:21 (ESV) says: “death and life are in the power of the tongue”.

Since it is out of the “abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45, ESV), what we need is wisdom on the inside which will show itself as wisdom on the outside. Thankfully, wisdom and understanding is something we can ask God for and is a gift He generously gives to us (James 1:5).

Today, ponder this: In the last week did you use words in a way that built up or tore down? Were you at all discerning in what words you used, when you used them or how you used them? And looking at these verses, what is your prayer for yourself?