Proverbs: Words and Speech
March 20, 2019
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21
Have you ever used Twitter?
Ten years ago, almost to the day, I hopped on the Twitter bandwagon and started sharing what was on my mind. It was exciting to “follow” my favorite real-life heroes and even more exciting when they followed you back and replied to you!
The whole platform revolved around this idea: your thoughts are worth sharing with anyone and everyone, no matter the occasion.
Ten years later, I still check Twitter nearly every day. It’s not something that requires much time and investment. Depending on who you follow, it can be a wonderful platform for encouragement and for the expression of noble ideas and quotable truths. However, as everyone who has used it knows, the platform can easily promote and shine a staggering spotlight on toxic language.
Using Twitter and other venues of social media presents us with a Risk-Reward scenario. What will I find today? Encouragement? Excitement? Unexpected news? The diamond is in the rough.
As social beings, we know that language is a wonderful gift from God. Think of the last time someone showed you love, care, or attention. I’d be willing to bet that it was attached to a well-meaning good word!
We also have a tendency to let our words slip, though. We can become careless with our choice of words, paying little attention to the context, all of the people around us, and the unique scenarios we find ourselves in. For this, we need guidance and wisdom!
The book of Proverbs is often called “wisdom literature.” It helps us to navigate life when the waters around us are murky. It serves to point us back to the God who designed life and declared it good—even very good—prior to the advent of sin and its corrosive power.
Proverbs 18:21 tells us that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” The speech we use is designed to build up and encourage, to fortify and motivate—to bring life. Language is designed to communicate truth, ideas, information, and feelings with sobriety of mind, care for the listener, and the delivery of grace, as fits the occasion (Eph 4:29).
But there’s a correlation between the power of the tongue and how often we use its power. Those who are given to much talking will reap much in the way of both its positive, healthful benefits and negative, deathly effects. Those who are slower to speak and who refrain from boisterous chatter are not as swayed by its effects. “Those who love [the power of the tongue] will eat its fruits.” In other words, there’s much wisdom in being slow and careful in our speech, rather than being loose with your tongue! … Try saying “Loose lips sink ships” five times fast. It’s almost guaranteed to make anyone look foolish! Point taken, right?
There have been seasons where I have withdrawn from social media, in order to recollect my own thoughts and be more intentionally nourished by the Word of God. His Word speaks truth in love.
Likewise, if you are finding yourself immersed in a pool of toxic language, what would it look like to remove yourself from the scenario where possible? What would it look like to let your mind be refreshed and restored by heavenly language? Our heavenly Father speaks to us through his inspired Word, the Bible, and we as his children are invited to speak to him through the language of prayer, in Christ’s name.
See, through Christ, we have been given desires for purity and freedom from the presence of sin. We’ve been given a holy longing for God’s goodness and grace and for a right standing before him, our King. Proverbs 22:11 tells us, “He who loves purity of heart, whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.” More than just a platitude about how speaking well of others benefits the speaker, the gospel tells us that we have a right relationship with God our King, because Christ who stood in our place and has spoken well over us through his sinless life and atoning death.
So as we rest in this truth of the gospel, may we seek to love each other with purity of heart and grow in grace toward one another. “From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips” (Prov 18:20).
