Words Matter

SCRIPTURE: Irresponsible talk makes a real mess of things, but a reliable reporter is a healing presence. Proverbs 13:17 MSG

THOUGHT: My bachelor’s degree was in journalism, and I admit to sometimes feeling justified in picking on my own.

When I came across this promise last week, it actually made me laugh out loud, envisioning media outlets and schools of journalism pasting it on every mirror in their buildings, offering a little pep talk to aspiring reporters.

The truth is, it’s not just the journalists who suffer the malady of irresponsible talk. With the advent of social media, we’ve all become reporters, many of us held to no standard except reactive impulse. Increasingly, untrustworthy gatekeepers decide whose words are allowed, making reliable reporting even harder to find.

I can’t solve anything with my couple hundred words, but I can remind us that words matter. Words are powerful. Words are sacred. God creates the world with words until he gets into the dirt to create humans. Even then, he uses his breath to give them life – the same mechanism we use for speech. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1). Jesus is God’s Word wrapped in flesh, and it’s good to remember that as we let go our own words upon the listener. A reliable reporter is a healing presence.

SONG: I Speak Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9n0xFzz1ak

PRAYER: Thank you, God, for words and the Word. Your best Word. Your final Word. Thank you that a word rightly spoken can bring healing. I see that in Jesus; and his spirit lives in me. Not everyone liked his words, but you did, and you used them to change those who would listen. May it be the same in my life.