Sticks and Stones

 

 

Have you ever been able to trace back a situation or person in your life because of something you said? Are you now in a predicament that you created with what came out of your mouth? Did you put yourself in a bind because you couldn’t control what came out of your mouth? The words that you speak define what kind of person you are. Words are expressions of our thoughts.

All of our words have power, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Once something is released into the atmosphere, it has been given life. Even when you apologize for saying something you shouldn’t have and you apologize, that’s asking for forgiveness for the offense but it doesn’t change what was already said. The best thing to do is to think before you speak, you can’t let emotions rule your life and let your mouth get you into a situation that your spirit can’t handle.

 

James 3:11-12 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?  12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. (NIV)

 

We spend a large amount of time letting filth come out of our mouths but expect for Christ to be able to identify us as His own. Filth is not just cursing, it’s slander, gossip, and degradation. The nastiest words flow from some of the most beautiful vessels. What we fail to realize that what’s in you eventually makes its way to the outside. So if trash is coming out of your mouth, that’s what is truly residing inside of you. We assume that because we go to church and praise God on Sunday that we have free reign to say whatever we want the rest of the week. But fresh water and salt water can’t flow from the same spring, it’s just not possible.

Being made new is about having your nature changed, that what’s inside of you is so pure that it flows from your mouth. If you speak dirty, you are dirty! We have blurred the line so that it makes it easier for us to live with one foot in the kingdom and one foot out. But take a quick survey over your life and determine where you belong. Just by the words we speak we can get a good idea of where we are. Are you speaking death and destruction over your children? Have you given yourself a title that God didn’t create? Do you speak negativity over every situation in your life? Is cursing your only form of communication? We remove the opportunity for God to work because we keep Him out with our words.

The old saying “Sticks and stone may break my bones but words can never hurt me” is far from the truth. Not only can words hurt you, they can kill you. What we allow to live through our words can wreak havoc in our lives and the lives of those connected to us. Some of us are looking into the eyes of a person that has no place in our lives but we spoke them into existence. There may have been a time where you asked for a “man, any man” and now that you have him you have no idea how to get rid of him. Or maybe you asked God for “just a job” and you’ve found yourself working a dead-end job where you’re underpaid and under-appreciated. Be careful what you allow to live in your life.

 

The same power that you used to create the situation can also be used to end it. You don’t have to be a prisoner to what your words gave birth to. The only way to fight a lie is with the truth, you can kill that deception with transparency. You have a choice of what you’re going to be. A fresh spring only produces fresh water; there should be no other option!

 



With All My Love,
Mrs. Truscott