The Words We Say

Our society has freedom of speech in the United States.  I believe we abuse this right because we go to the point of using it as an excuse to shut down others who do not agree with us or who ask us politely to stop talking with vulgarity or other unsavory words.  We must remember respect and love for others over the desire to simply blurt words.

I love the fact I can talk to people from around the world via the internet.  This leads to a wonderful mix of cultures and beliefs easily rolled together via a common cause or thing that pulls people together.  The internet is where you may easily share, but still be unknown at the same time.  So take all this cultural mixture and the lessening of fear of real repercussions and some offense is bound to happen.  Now a lot of it is based on ignorance, though that should not be an excuse; however, a lot of people will use this to get away with more offensive behavior.  It is not hard to figure out who simply slipped up and who wants to be the troll.  The troll wants a fight, not to back down to admitting a wrong by apologizing.  Thankfully I know more people who simply make a mistake and apologize than trolls in my online wanderings.

I know I slip up enough to know I still need to work on how I say things and when I say them.  I used to be pretty bad and in the camp that did not care what others thought.  Then again, that led to lots of anger management sessions and work probation.  So having this behind me, I’m an advocate for trying to be G-rated as much as possible when talking on the internet or anywhere.  I call people on it too, in a polite manner, knowing what problems it caused me.  I have been called a party pooper and other things for wanting people to keep things clean.  I know just the other day I called someone on it in the online gaming community I belong to for a nasty reference used in a character name.  They did not like being called out for it and that I would have to report it.  So I asked them, would you care to explain that to my eight-year-old niece that can read it?  She was not here, but I wanted to see what this guy would answer.  It made him back down on his idea of what was cool, but I have seen some people not even care that kids play games too and will be repeating these nasty things they see.

The words we say carry way more power than we realize. We cannot just run around saying what we want because we are not the only ones on earth.  The Bible tells us a great deal about the power of words.  Most of us know the difference from right and wrong, but sadly we tend to tilt towards wrong rather than right without having things in writing.  Even the gaming community I belong to has rules in place to help keep things family friendly and those rules fit well with what the Bible says.

Peter lays this out pretty good and he should be able to.  He said a great deal of right things, but he was the impetuous fellow Jesus also had to rebuke several times for what he blurted out.  Peter sounds like most of us and I can definitely relate.  He sums things up well in 1 Peter 3:9-13 (NIV):  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.   For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.  He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."  Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?  I love this question.  

If you are saying good things, no one is going to call you on what you are saying.  If you know how to express disagreement in a courteous manner people will not harshly brush off your opinion.  Okay, they might brush you off, but it tends to be done more quietly.  Healthy, understanding discussion cannot occur by force, but it will occur by showing respect for the other person’s point of view.  Common sense tells us this, right?  The Golden Rule:  “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.”

Now I want to take this a step further for those of us who are professing to be Christians.  Are we really talking like we should?  Are we making people around us realize what we have that they do not have; that thing that gives us hope where they see no hope?  Or are we going on and on about how this is wrong or gossiping about how so-and-so messed up?  I hope we are doing the former not the latter.  The latter makes me cringe and I have cringed at myself slipping into that negative side of things.  Before I accepted Christ, I easily blew off the Christians who gossiped and complained and never seemed happy.  Obviously, they had nothing better than what I had already.  Ouch!  Jesus is getting a bad reputation with the world when we go down this path instead of showing the truth.

We Christians have a direct line to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, our helper, is with us.  The world is not going to see this unless your words align with His and your faith appears alive and active to them.  In Matthew 17:20 (NIV) Jesus answers his disciples after they ask why they failed to expel a demon.  He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  Is your faith showing hope and moving mountains or are you just another complainer wondering why the world is going to hell?  Rather blunt choices there, but if we are not speaking our faith, we cannot execute or show our faith in the world.

Now the Bible says God spoke everything into existence in Genesis chapter one.  If words have the power to create then they also have the power to destroy.  I have seen people torn apart by words and destroyed to the point of wishing they were dead.  I have also seen kind words brighten someone’s day and totally diffuse some of the worse fights.  Are you tearing down or building up with your words?  Are you working for your own ends at everyone else’s expense or are you trying to be a team member?

Our words come from what we think and what is truly in our hearts.  Mark 7:20-23 (NIV) says, He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.'  For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"  No matter what we want people to think of us, in the end our mouth will always reveal what we truly believe.  Jesus makes this clear by saying, “The way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced.”  Matthew 7:20 (NLT)