Life Matters

What Matters Most – Words

Writing to a new grandchild, an English journalist posted this in the Sunday Times, “In a world full of audio visual marvels, may words matter to you and be full of charm.” I fully agree! May words truly matter to you too.

Someone once said, “You cook in the frying pan of your own words.” Your life is served up and seasoned in your own words. Almost every time you prepare to converse with someone, there is an open door for you to have meaningful dialogue. You can decide to frame your conversation with encouragement, and bring life, or allow the wickedness that's contained in the tongue to run free and speak death. The choice is entirely yours!

There is a spiritual principle that comes into operation every time you apply your own free will and make a choice. Your choices may be good or bad, but these two requirements must be satisfied for it to be established. First, you must believe with your heart, and second, you must confess with your mouth. This process is a foundational spiritual law, and it will work either way manifesting good or evil.

But sometimes it’s not what we say but rather what we didn’t say that hurts! A variation on an old proverb reads, “Harsh words will break no bones, but more than bones are broken by the inescapable stones of fond words left unspoken.” You should never be afraid to express your love in words. Words are sometimes all you have!

Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”

Like a master craftsman, you can place your words in the most beautiful setting using precious materials

In Deuteronomy 30:14 it states, "The word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so you can do it." Notice, your obedience and love for God must be evident in both places in your heart and in your confession. Only then can His covenant promises manifest in your life. This is both practical and realistic!

The trouble with many believers is that they appear to have the Word in their hearts, yet they never speak anything in line with the Word. God's Word is "alive and active and sharper than any two edged sword", however, its life and power is released through the tongue. 2 Corinthians 4:13 “…And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke', we also believe and therefore speak." implying that confession is a product of belief.

Throughout the Bible you will find a great emphasis placed on speech. That is, what comes out of your mouth, or is on your lips. I am convinced that the sin of disobedience is manifest more intensely [and is more evident] in people's conversation than in any other area of their lives. Many people might appear moral to society because their countenance reflects a form of Godliness. Yet their conversation is seasoned with all kinds of evil and corruption, and they deny God's power in their lives through improper speech.

Remember, “…the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it [in order that you may obey it]." The big question today is this – “What word is very near you?” The word of life or the word of death the choice is yours!

Your words are deciding your future – whether good or bad

Jesus said that we would have to give an account of every careless word we have spoken, and that by our words we will be acquitted or condemned. Matthew 12:36-37 "But I tell you, on the day of Judgement all men will have to give an account for every idle word they have spoken. For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced” [Amplified]. Note the Greek word translated “idle” literally means negative! According to Jesus, negative or worthless speech is an expression of that person’s true character.

In Matthew 12:33 the "fruit" mentioned is not good works but the things we speak. From verse 31 onwards the Lord is referring to what comes out of the mouth [your words]. Let me quickly explain something… The seed that is planted in our hearts is the Word, and this seed grows to produce fruit. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man will produce good fruit [words of life], and an evil man will produce evil fruit [words of death]. Notice something very important, you are in control of what you produce!

The Amplified translates it thus… "[You] either make the tree sound healthy and good, and its fruit sound healthy and good, or [you] make the tree sound rotten, diseased and bad, and its fruit rotten, diseased and bad; for the tree is known, recognised and judged by its fruit."

What do you sound like to others? Are you a clanging empty can or a symphony of praises to God? Are you a slave to the evil of the human tongue, or are you "filled with the Holy Spirit, singing – making melody in our heart to the Lord?"

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and of death and those who 'love' it will eat its fruit.” The Amplified puts it a little different, "…Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who 'indulge' shall themselves eat the fruit of it [for death or for life]."

Note the fruit you are producing you’ll be made to eat [and so become]! You are what you eat! However, you feed your character primarily with the fruit of your lips! It’s incredible and frightening how much power the tongue has!

It can destroy three people all at once; the one slandering, the one whom is being slandered, and the one listening. It can become the greatest pollutant in your life if left unchecked. But the power is with you! It’s in your mouth!

We can cloth each other with words of life or garments of death. But one thing's for sure whatever we produce we will be made to eat. So why not do what the Lord God has instructed… "Choose life that you may live."

And remember, your words matter because they are a creative force.

Chris Demetriou, 22/12/2010