Words as Weapons

Words can wound.

Job 19:2 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

“How long will you hurt me and crush me with your words?”

A wordsmith is someone who is an expert in using words with skill. They can link sentences together to express thoughts or feelings in such a way that phrases just seem to flow off ones lips with such fluidity that they enter the ears smoothly. They can also be people who skillfully use words to pierce not only the ear, but the heart and soul of their listener in such a manner as to degrade or destroy the intended target of their wordy attack.

Words can shoot out of our mouths like a bullet from a loaded gun when the safety is not on. Before we think we can fire off words in a moment of anger that can end relationships or even start wars. I know people today who will not speak to one another because the last words they spoke to each other were so hurtful they chose never to speak words to each other again. Words have more power than we give them credit for. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that life and death are in the tongue. Knowing that we should put a safety on our tongues! To know that we have such power should cause us to take speaking seriously.

St. James wrote in Chapter 3 of his epistle that no man can tame the tongue. That tells me that only God can. That is why it is so important that when we come to Christ we confess with our mouths. When we get Christ in our heart we first have to let Him have our mouths. Jesus used words to heal people and bring them back to life. He used words to dispel demons, comfort mourners, and even still stormy seas. Some of His last words on the Cross were, “Father, forgive them.” I don’t think Jesus ever spoke a single word that He did not mean to say; do you?

Therefore, the next time we feel like using words as weapons let us stop and think before we put into words that thought we are thinking. It may keep us from crushing someone or driving them away.