Words of Life
Summer 2024
Aren’t you glad that God created us with the ability to speak and to communicate as part of being made in His image? All communication was good, until the Fall in the Garden of Eden. When Satan came to Eve, he used words to cast doubt on God and His Word. Adam and Eve believed Satan’s words of death and disobeyed God’s command. Ever since, words of death have been a snare to our tongues. Scripture is full of people who used wicked words of death—Adam, Eve, Mrs. Job, and Michal; and to this very day, all humans have struggled with their unruly tongues.
Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Literally, death and life are in the hands or strength of the tongue! As our hands enable our work, so the tongue conveys either words of life or death. The second part of the verse literally means those who love using their tongues shall reap the consequences.
Words of life are in the power of the tongue to use for good: to edify, build up in the faith, demonstrate love, and be fitly spoken at just the right time. “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life” is just one verse of many in Proverbs regarding our words (Proverbs 15:4). “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24). Pleasant words are kind, beautiful, and delightful, benefitting both soul and body. Using our tongues according to these verses is life-giving and becoming to Christian women and girls.
Sadly, death is also a power in the tongue. Can we just be honest? We are humans who deal with sin in our own lives, so we tend to minimize our sins and excuse our sharp words. However, hearing our own actual words should at times give us pause. Words can hurt, ruin, and destroy others, especially in private where words tend to be more hurtful. Proverbs 12:18 says, “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword”—too many times, dear sisters, we wield our tongues like a sword to stab others. Words, whether intentionally said or not, can pierce hearts and leave devastation in their wake. Words of death manipulate, control, and destroy others. Tale bearing, gossip, and slander separate friends, breed contention, and destroy unity. Many verses in Proverbs teach us about such death-like words, which should not be named among us and must be guarded against.
How can we cultivate speaking more life-giving words? The virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 has in her tongue “the law of kindness.” In an overarching way, she spoke kindly in every relationship: husband, children, servants, business. We, too, need to be known as kind, wise, godly women. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be ye kind one to another…even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” What lovingkindness Christ has shown us to die for our sin so that we could be forgiven! David depended on God’s lovingkindness and mercy for forgiveness (Psalm 51:1). David also prayed, “Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning”(Psalm 143:8). Meditating in our hearts on God’s kindness towards us will teach our tongues kindness toward others. With this foundation, even those hard conversations will be seasoned with grace and love to edify, comfort, and correct. Life-giving words bring spiritual health to ourselves, our families, and our churches. May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in God’s sight because He is our strength and redeemer (Psalm 19:14).
Mrs. Barbara Mooney