Speak Life!

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21)

There is a story of a woman in England who came to her vicar with a troubled conscience. The vicar knew her to be a habitual gossip; she had maligned nearly everyone in the village. “How can I make amends?” the woman pleaded. The vicar said, “If you want to make peace with your conscience, take a bag of goose feathers and drop one on the porch of each one you have slandered.” When she had done so, she came back to the vicar and said, “Is that all?” “No,” said the wise old minister, “you must go now and gather up every feather and bring them all back to me.” After a long time the woman returned without a single feather. “The wind has blown them all away,” she said. “My good woman,” said the vicar, “so it is with gossip. Unkind words are easily dropped, but we can never take them back again.”

There’s not much commentary needed on a story like that! The tongue is a very small thing indeed, but what enormous damage can be done by those we wag it indiscriminately. Gossip isn’t harmless; it is a poisonous form of communication that has shipwrecked countless relationships between family members, friends, co-workers, and our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

So how do we rise above the toxic talk that can come out of our mouths? We must remember this one simple Scripture and keep it before us every time we open our mouths to speak:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29)

If we are going to speak life, we must think before we speak. We need to think about the power of our words and be committed to speaking life through words that build up, rather than tear down. Remember that unkind words, just like goose feathers, are easily dropped, but we can never take them back again. As the wise preacher observed, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18). By God’s grace, may we pause and reconsider before we utter reckless words. May words of life be the confession of our lives!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!