The Words of My Mouth

There is a beauty to words. I love them. Many people do. They swirl around and breathe beauty and life like a fragrant breeze on a crisp fall day. They tell stories of love and inspire acts of courage and bravery. Books and poetry and screenplays and tweets and songs reach out and in and grasp your very heart and force you to your feet. Words change society and shape culture. They can pour grace and redemption out. I forgive you. I love you. Let’s try again.

 

They have power.

 

I have not always used my words well. The idea of hearing my words played back to me with Jesus right there, as if He wasn’t there the first time around, is shame-inducing. My mouth is quick and my command of words can be pretty clever. An imperfect and sinful heart has made for disastrous outcomes with those two traits working together. I have said cruel things in the heat of anger, I’ve made jokes in poor taste. I’ve gossiped, I’ve lied. I don’t even want to know what kinds of negative things I’ve spoken over and into the lives of others.

 

Because words have power.

 

God spoke creation into existence (Genesis 1). His breath, His sound waves, broke out into nothing and created. Where there was empty, God said words and life sprang up. Light, water, earth, stars and planets, all sorts of animals. Man. The hand of the potter was actually the tongue.

 

Later, Jesus used words to call out to His followers and speak new life into them. Come, follow me (Matthew 4:19). Blessed are you. You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (Matthew 16:17-18).

 

Words can set you free and build you up, or they can be a shackle around your ankle. I’ve been the confused kid on the bus who was taught words I shouldn’t know, and the middle schooler who did her best to dodge the wrong labels. I’ve been told I was fat or lazy and believed it and learned to see it. I’ve had people tear me down. We all have, I think. Most of us, myself included, have done our fair share of tearing, too. I’m thankful I was an adult before social media really took off, and the words of peers were constantly accessible and it seemed impossible to block, turn off, and delete. It’s so easy to say terrible things.

 

Yes, words can be ugly and leave a mark. But they can also break bondage and set your heart skipping and ignite passions and holy fires. I remember some terrible things that have been said to me by very wounded and broken people over the years, and if I really want to be in a bad mood, I can certainly dwell on them. But hey, I also remember some of those life-giving ones.

 

Do you know Jesus? My friend said this with all sorts of love while we drove along, and I’d managed to be offended, but boy did it get me thinking. And boy did that sentence kick-start the most beautiful and wonderful journey I’ve ever been on.

 

You’re a leader. The youth pastor at my church said that to me long before I saw it or believed it. He picked me up and tossed me off a ledge and trusted God had enabled me to fly, and he was right. Like Jesus did with Peter, he spoke life and hope and direction long before the evidence was there.

 

Beloved. You are mine. I love you. You can do this. You’re going to be fine. This will pass. Trust me. Let’s go. You belong to me. Keep going. ~ the words of Jesus. Life-affirming, life changing, encouraging, building- up.

 

We can speak life or we can speak death. We can use words that heal or words that cut. We can be a launching pad and speak dreams and faith into people meant to fly (all of us), or we can tie an anchor around their foot and put a lid over their head because we’re afraid of the big things God can do through them.

 

Now, this may not always have been the case but these days I’m a pretty confident person, and not because I’m the prettiest or smartest or coolest. I’m self-assured because I am God-assured, meaning I know I belong to Him and that He loves me and is building me up to be more and more like Him and the me He created me to be. Frankly, and I don’t mean to be callous, but knowing that’s true and yes, actually believing it, means that I couldn’t care less what anyone else thinks about me. People matter, and how I impact them and make them feel matters, but their arbitrary opinions of me do not. I mention this because while words can still hurt, nowadays I’m less concerned about the words people speak over me and much more concerned with the words I speak over and to people.

 

I must say about a zillion stupid things on a daily basis. I’ve gotten better about thinking before I speak, especially as compared to me as a fifteen-year-old, and if I’m angry I’ll close my mouth tight rather than spewing off, which is sometimes helpful and sometimes not. But still, I tend to give myself too much permission to speak truth into other people’s lives without their consent and maybe before they’re ready to hear it. Worse, I might be saying it because I love them and want good and healthy things for them, but that doesn’t always come across. Sometimes I just seem like a self-righteous know-it-all. Sometimes I am being a self-righteous know-it-all. Sometimes I say things because I know it’ll be funny, not because it’ll be good. And that’s not okay. Sometimes I say things and think it makes perfect sense, but from someone else’s perspective it means something different and the message, and the truth, is lost.

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. ~ Psalm 19:14

 

This is my prayer for not just my year, but my life and this blog. I can say kind things to people and refrain from unkind things, but I want to do more than that. I want to spread the Gospel as Jesus commands. I want to breathe life and hope and grace and redemption. I want to reflect Jesus and point to Him with a big neon sign because He is so worth knowing and loving. I won’t always get it right and my grammar might not always be perfect and not everyone will like me or agree with me or want to hear about Jesus, but I believe there are things that need to be said. There are things the church needs to look at and work on and areas where it needs to wake up and grow.

 

Words have power. Words start revolution. Words awaken. Words ignite revival, but only if they’re the right words. Is what I’m saying and writing pleasing to God? Is this for Jesus? Does this point to Jesus? It can’t be about me, and it can’t be about you. Enough of saying things for laughs. Enough of frivolous talk. Enough of complaining. For goodness sakes, enough of gossip. People are dying for lack of life-giving words. May my words be pleasing to Jesus. May your words be pleasing to Jesus. Remember Church, we should sound different from everyone else. We should look different on social media. We should speak differently in the work place, and at home, and out with friends. People might think you’re weird. You might not win a popularity contest. But there are starving people who need your life-giving words. They need a rope of grace and redemption to cling to. They need love and hope. It’s easy to be cynical. It’s easy to argue about politics. It’s easy to joke crassly and to gossip. Don’t. You are a child of God. You have the Holy Spirit living inside you. God has enabled you to be brave, and speak truth, and speak love.

 

Your words have power.