Tuesday, August 9, 2016

The Power of the Tongue

Proverbs 18:20-21 A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

In these two short verses from the Book of Proverbs, we have a most important key to the secret place of well-being in our personal lives and ministry. All too often I have tried to pick up the pieces of my own broken heart, or attempted to assist others in getting themselves together again after a negative encounter with another person’s acid tongue. Let me try to unpack these verses just a bit, and then give a key principle from the life of Jesus that – if implemented – will set us free from the tyranny of other people’s unrighteous opinions.
The first point that the writer of the Proverb makes is that our stomach – in this case, our place of nourishment for the soul – will be sated, completely filled, with the fruit of our mouth. What we speak concerning ourselves will absolutely affect the health and prosperity of our souls. The power of the tongue is that it carries life or death to us, and whatever words we “love,” or eat constantly, will bear their fruit in us. If we love words of life, then there will be life-giving fruit. If we constantly feed on words of death – criticism, self-hatred, demands of perfection, rejection, abandonment – the fruit borne in us will be deadly.
In James’ apostolic letter to the Body of Christ, he lets us know that not only do words have power, they have the awesome effect of setting the course of life on fire! The words we speak and the words we receive are a big deal!
One of the most important disciplines we can embrace is the discipline of discerning which words we will feast on. There are a couple of sentences in the Scripture, spoken by Jesus and echoed by His disciples, that help us here.
In John 6:63, Jesus says “The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Since we know from John 8:28 that Jesus only speaks what He hears from the Father, we can be confident that Jesus’ words are always gracious, empowering us to live the life He has for us. Learning to love the words that agree with what God speaks, and learning to reject every word that contradicts God’s opinion is certain to bear the good fruit of life, not death. Peter echoed those words moments after Jesus spoke them when he said “You have the words of eternal life.” Peter knew that even if Jesus’ words made him momentarily uncomfortable, the long-term fruit of eating them would be life for his soul.
Jesus Himself had to exercise this discipline as well. In the early days of His ministry, everyone was excited about Him, and was praising Him (see John 2:23-25). However, Jesus gave those words no power, because He knew that if He gave their positive words power in His soul now, their negative and condemning words later would have power to wound Him. So, He did not entrust Himself to them – in other words, He gave their words no power in His life. He only gave the voice of the Father the power to affect His well-being.
The key thing here is this: Whose words will you love? Will you feast on the changing words of other people that have come in your childhood, or even more recently, words that may be positive or negative, but are not necessarily in line with the Father’s righteous words? Or, will you feast only on words that agree with what God thinks and says over you? Even His words of correction, painful in the moment, bear the fruit of life to those who love Him and His word.

May the Holy Spirit grant you great grace to discern the Father’s voice, to give power only to words that agree with His heart, and to enjoy the eternal fruit of life that comes from the power of His voice.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for this! I find it hard to "unlearn" patterns of a lifetime, being overly concerned about what others think (positive or negative). Father, help me to look to You only for affirmation; purify our hearts!

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    1. Thanks for your response! May the Holy Spirit remind you constantly of the Father's love and affirmation - you are one of His favorites! Blessings, GW

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