You could ask anyone this question and I guarantee every answer would be collectively the same. However, if we asked any one of those people why, I guarantee we’d have a wide array of reasons.
“Why does what we say matter?”
I’m sure there are plenty of valid reasons, but the most simple and yet accurate answer comes straight from the Bible.
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Let’s break this down together. What does this mean? Well, most obviously it means that YES our words DO matter. How we speak DOES matter. But what is the author saying when he says “and those who love it will eats its fruit.”? What kind of fruit is produced from a dead tree? None. What kind of fruit is produced from a living tree? Healthy, full, delicious fruit.
In the New Testament, Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control….”.
In the New Testament, Jesus himself says in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”
Now let’s put all of this together piece by piece. Yes our words matter. Why? Because the tongue has the power to give life or death. If we produce life with our tongue we are a clear representation of Jesus living in us and therefore can bear the fruit of the Spirit. However, we cannot be dead and living at the same time. Meaning, we cannot give death with our words and still bear the fruit of life.
I am guilty of this. We are all created with the same fleshly desires to get angry and lash out, to gossip, to use our words for evil intent instead of using them to give life. If I have learned anything about myself and quite honestly about others its this, the way I speak about others says more about me and the fruit I’m bearing (or lack thereof) than it does the person I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter if what I’m saying is a fact or the most truthful statement ever made. It speaks volumes on our character. Especially when we speak kindly of people we have been hurt by or don’t necessarily like.
Continuing to speak words of death will only push us further from God and will only push others away from us. However, choosing to speak kindness and life into people and using integrity to do so, will mend and grow more relationships than we could ever imagine.
To sum it up, yes our words matter. So knowing this, how will you speak differently to and about others?
I challenge you to compliment each person you see or talk about at least once in your daily conversations and watch how it changes your heart posture toward that person.
The Grace-filled Home 