Words Work

Words are powerful, influential, moving and again, very powerful things!

Look at that Bible laying on your coffee table.  A book of many, many, many words.  God uses words!  Words matter!  Words are powerful!  Words work!

Romans 10:17, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Hosea 14:2, Take words with you, and return to the Lord. Say to Him…

The four-step: “I’m sorry!  Will you forgive me?  I won’t do it again!  You, God, truth is the boss!”

Acts 8:35, Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.

James 3:5-6, Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.

Think about the power of Twitter or Facebook or any other mediums through which the use of words impact our lives daily – especially our children!

Think about the words spoken to your children in the classroom, from coaches, or from friends.  Words of truth?  Words of grace?  Words of wisdom – fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom?  Humm.

I think about words from jail – especially Paul: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon.

Think about Martin Luther King who wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in 1963.  It was a call to break unjust laws and take direct action for justice which spurred the Civil Rights Movement.

What about John Bunyan’s words from jail?  Pilgrim’s Progress!

Hilter!  Adolf Hitler!  In 1925 he wrote “Mein Kampf” (My Complaint) and it is said that for every word in that book, 25,000 people died in WW II.  Words work!

Think about the words of the media…

In 1925, a man named John Scopes was convicted in a Tennessee courtroom of teaching evolution, but… you would have never known it reading the press.  The papers sided with Scopes (Scopes verdict – July 21, 1925 | Hitler published – July 18, 1925).

The same is true of the Tet Offensive which began January 1968 and proved disastrous to the Viet Cong, but not so if you were listening to the US press.  A few defeats or wrongs (the picture of the execution of a Cong by a Vietnamese general) were enough fodder for the press to paint a picture of American evils and defeat.  From those words came widespread riots, protests and anti-war wrangling.

And now we have been exposed to the censoring that Twitter employed to silence voices contrary to a political bent – even the Babylon Bee!

One of the hallmarks of the American experience/experiment has been that of free speech.  Free speech means that voices contrary are allowed.  Free speech means letting people voice their thoughts/ideas with the belief that over time the truth/logical/good will rise to the top and the other will fall away.  [Free speech should not be unchecked. Speech that is slanderous, an ethnic slur, which spurs/promotes violence, is obscene, threatening, etc. should be checked.]

Debate, discussion, and even arguing (if on a level field is not evil) – can actually be beneficial.  We all have a set of presuppositions (a worldview) and we are very protective of our “wisdom” and resistant to change.  Free speech allows others to challenge our takes.  Such as: “Is there a God?” “NO!” “I think Yes and here’s why.”  Such can cause a healthy debate.  Free speech is important else the Christian voice is silenced and when that happens, as it is happening in the USA, goodness, wisdom and love vanish.  Christian speech – God talk – is so very important!

The point?  Words work!  For good or for evil!