Walking with the Wise #497: The Power of Words

“A lying tongue hates its victims,


and a flattering mouth works ruin.”

—Proverbs 26:28

Words are powerful. They can topple governments, break chains, inflame passion, or quench fires. They can direct generations, destroy lives—or make them. The power of words—the written or spoken word, cannot be underestimated. It is one of our most powerful and destructive tools. More powerful than weapons of mass destruction and the greatest of natural disasters, words can echo and affect generations of men and women in ways beyond our imagination. We must be very careful how we use our words, because we know how powerful they are. Especially when our words are directed by a sinful heart, we can cause untold devastation to countless thousands. But words, like fire, once spoken or written, can turn around and destroy you, just as well as it can destroy others.

A lying tongue reveals the hate in the heart. Lies are the devil’s main weapon (John 8:44), and one that he has been using from the very beginning of time. Lies are tricky things because they can shape themselves into many forms. Slander, gossip, and backbiting are some of the more overt forms, but manipulative God-talk, hypocritical flattery, compliments, praise, or adulation are the subversive and destructive forms.

Our responsibility is to monitor what we say and what we hear, always scanning our hearts to make sure our motives are right. Our proclivity toward manipulating through words is legendary and only the truth of Christ as revealed to us through the Word of God can help us discern this dastardly motive within ourselves. Seeing and identifying it within others is just as hard, but nevertheless necessary. The flattering mouth works ruin—both for those at whom it is aimed and for those who perpetrate such vile filth on its innocent victims.

Speak truth, employ honesty, and be “as wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16) when living among fallen man. Use your words to proclaim the truth of Him who bought you with His own blood, and then experience the joy that comes from doing that which God has made and purposed you to do. Amen.