Holiness: Words

With [our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God....my brothers these things ought not to be so. -- James 3:9

"Words have power." We've heard it a million times. "Guard your tongue." So the preachers tell us over and over again. "Do not speak evil of others." We know it's wrong to gossip and slander (called "lashon hara" in Hebrew). Yet, our tongues slip so easily. And then there's all the noise, the words that mean nothing but take up space.

Last fall I wrote about perspective, how our focus steers the way we act. This is closely related to words. James tells us that the tongue is like the rudder of the ship. The way we speak affects the way we see things. The words you say become what you believe. When you speak negatively, your attitude becomes negative. But when you speak words of love, when you pray for your enemies, when you bless God who gives and takes away--your focus turns toward those things. Prayer is an amazing tool that we have been given to help us with this.

There's another tradition I've found helpful. The Jewish people have a tradition to say at least one hundred blessings a day. Now, I can't say that I make to one hundred each day, but I have found it helpful to say a quick blessing here and there. Look around you--there are so many things to bless God for. His daily provision, His wonderful creation, His loving discipline, His abundant grace. And when things don't go so well, bless our Redeemer who will one day make all things new.

Bless God for the people around you and pray for them. Bless and do not curse. Bless God who created you, who carefully formed your body and your mind and your spirit, who planted in you dreams and equipped you with talent. You bear the signature of divine, so do not degrade yourself. Bless and do not curse.

Think about how you use your words this week.


*As a side note, Jewish tradition connects leprosy to the sin of lashon hara (as when Miriam spoke against Moses and became leprous). Leprosy was considered the outward sign of the "uncleanness" that Yeshua spoke of in Matthew 15:18.

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