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May my words and my thoughts be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my sheltering rock and my redeemer. -Psalm 19:14 (NET)

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. -James 1:19 (NLT)

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. -Proverbs 16:24 (NIV)

In the 1980s, there was this public service announcement video that played on TV in the U.S., about verbal abuse to children. It talked about “words that hit harder than a fist,” like telling a child “I wish you were never born.”

Indeed, words are powerful. God invented them. His Word is the perfect and inerrant use of them, as a matter of fact!

For us, we are stewards of the lives He has given us, and in our lives, we are stewards of the very words that come from our mouths. And before a word ever leaves our lips, we have thoughts that form in our heads.

We may not choose the thoughts that pop in our heads, but we can choose what we do with them…especially ones the Spirit has let us know do not honor the Lord. Do we choose to direct our thoughts to higher and better things? Do we toy with them and let them linger, like playing with a flame?

If we choose the latter, we’ve watered and planted that dark seed….and it could produce terrible fruit in the words we choose to let loose and give life in the air. Harsh words can cut, bruise, and maim worse than any physical weapon, because they wound the deepest…right to the soul.

So when a person or situation takes you by surprise, take time out to consider what you might otherwise reflexively lash out with in response. Consider the very gift and power of words that the Lord has given you. I leave you with a verse from Paul to the Christians in Ephesus:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. -Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

Let us bless others with the very words God has given us the privilege to speak, so He will be made known. Let us have a blessed day and help make it one for others as well, fellow agent!