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.
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!
ReplyDeleteThanks 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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