The Power of Life & Death

The Power of Life and Death

Recently, one of our sons and his family were looking through pictures of the children when they were babies.  As they exclaimed over the pictures of when they were younger, there was one unflattering shot of my now imperturbable four-year-old granddaughter.  Recently, the family had watched the movie E.T., and my son, teasingly, said to my granddaughter, “Look.  You didn’t have much hair just then.  You look a little like E.T.”  Oh, my.  Normally, nothing anyone says can upset Evie.  However, this time, though her dad was teasing, she burst into tears and ran from the room.

It was so out-of-character that it took everyone a moment to realize that she was really crushed.  My son rushed to her side, full of apologies, loving on her, assuring her that he didn’t mean it, commending her beauty (and she is beautiful), and asking her forgiveness.  As he told me about it later, he said, “I had no idea that one little phrase could so crush a normally unflappable little girl.  I could have cut my tongue out and would have, rather than to hurt her.  Boy, have I learned a lesson about little girls.”

The truth is that God’s Word reminds us of the power of a tongue when it comes to relationships, people, and words.  In Proverbs 18:21, God’s Word says that Death and life are in the power of the tongue…  Think about that for a moment.

With one or two words, we have the power to encourage, impart hope, convey unconditional love, turn away wrath, stop gossip, smooth hurt feelings, and share the lovely Lord Jesus.  Or, conversely, we can shatter dreams, dampen excitement, demean people, and destroy hope with thoughtless or mean-spirited words.  Do people hunger to be in your presence, knowing that when they leave, their burden will be lighter, their hope will be renewed, and their day will be brighter?  Too often, we use our tongues to “help” the Holy Spirit in His job of speaking conviction, reproof, and judgment to others instead of allowing our tongues to be seasoned with grace, wisdom, and the law of kindness.   

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  According to God’s Word, however, a thousand words can be a thousand instruments of life or a thousand instruments of death.  Jesus said, in John 6:63, that the words that He spoke were spirit and life.  What a challenge it is to be like Jesus, using the power of the tongue to impart life wherever we are and whenever we speak.

© 2010 Gerry Sisk

(07/14/10)