How long will you hurt me and crush me with your words? You have insulted me ten times now and attacked me without shame. [Job 19:2-3 (NCV)]
When writing about nitroglycerin yesterday, I realized there’s something else in our lives much like this strange chemical that can both hurt and help. Like nitroglycerin, man’s capabilities are a dichotomy between good and evil, building and destroying. The same mind capable of creating a vaccine that saves lives is capable of creating a bomb that can take those lives. While most of us have nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction and can’t destroy thousands with the push of a button, we all carry a weapon that can destroy one life at a time: our tongue!
Like nitroglycerin, our words can cause an explosion and major destruction. We can squash ambition with disparaging and demeaning remarks. We can shoot down someone with blame and guilt. While we’d never think of physically harming a person, with a few words, we can wound an ego. We’d never murder anyone but we certainly can manage to kill someone’s hopes and dreams. We’d never destroy a person’s home, yet we can destroy their reputation with just a few words! Ridicule and shaming can deflate self-esteem faster than an arrow can a hot air balloon. Our words, like nitroglycerin, can be devastating weapons.
Nevertheless, like medical nitroglycerin, our words also can help. Words of love, comfort, forgiveness, encouragement, respect, or sympathy can lift burdens and defuse situations better than any bomb squad. It is our choice as to whether we crush or nurture, rend or mend.
Father, forgive us for our thoughtless and often cruel words. Guide us to use our tongues with wisdom and love; show us how to heal, not harm. Let our words be ones of encouragement and support. Rather than destroyers, show us how to be builders; rather than combatants, let us be peacemakers; and rather than adversaries, let us be advocates.
Only speak words that make a heart grow stronger. [Ann Voskamp]
If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all! [My mother’s advice]
Devotions of the Heart 