My Timothy Keller devotional based on Proverbs starts today with Proverbs 12:18 and 18:21: "The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing...The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." He goes on to say, "You are not wise unless you fully grasp the power of words. Words pierce like swords - they get into your heart and soul. When you say a hurtful word, you can never make things as if it had never been uttered...The wound may heal but the...scar remains..."
My daughter-in-law texted me this Father's Day morning to say she was especially missing Dad today, but was thankful for all the good memories. He had spoken many words of blessing over her, so she could now say that she has those good memories.
We were pretty young when we got married and certainly not mature, so I'm really glad that early on we received teaching on the power of our words to curse or to bless, to hurt or to heal, to harm or to help. My husband was a very self-confident man of strong character, strong principles, strong opinions (!), but it was clear to me that I could bring him down and wound him severely with my words, which had sometimes happened before I learned what I'm telling you now. We had 50 years of a (mostly) really good marriage for a large part because we (mostly) practised Ephesians 4:29: "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification (building up) that it may impart grace to the hearer."
Psalm 34:12, 13: "Who is the one who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil..." Proverbs 21:23: "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles."
Happy Father's Day to you, and may this year be better than all the ones that have come before, because you "keep your tongue from evil".
No comments:
Post a Comment