Your Words are Like Honey
“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24
Sticks and Stones
When I was a child, one of the ways we used to defend ourselves from people who called us names was a little rhyme that said, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but calling names won’t hurt me!” Sometimes it was good because it stopped the name caller, but other times more often than not, it really didn’t work. It wasn’t ‘just a name’ and actually, the name was painful. It was often accompanied by a whole barrage of nasty unkind wounding words that hurt long after they had been said.
Often the wounds made by these words, though not always visible, were more painful than receiving a physical blow, and these word wounds didn’t always heal or heal properly.
Positive Power of Encouraging Words
I also remember what it felt like for me as a child when a teacher, one of my parents, and even friends or family said kind affirming words, and words of praise for hard work or acknowledging an achievement. I still remember how I felt as a 12 year old when I got to meet and shake the hand of a past British Prime Minister, who came to our school speech day as a guest speaker, and who also presented awards and prizes to the students.
I had been selected as one of the children in my year group that had worked hard, achieved good grades, and who showed consideration for my fellow students, to receive a prize from the school. The prize was presented as part of our annual Speech Day, A grand ceremonial event where lots of speeches were made by famous people who supported the school. I had only seen this particular man on TV. I was in awe when we were told he would be presenting our prizes and we were given a list of etiquette Do’s and Don’t’s. Decades later as I write, I don’t remember the speech this important politician made, or much else about the evening in Sheffield City Hall, but I do remember the 3 words he said as he smiled his huge toothy smile, shook my hand and presented me with my prize. He said; “Congratulations! Well done!”
I’m sure he said the same to everyone else, but at that moment, I felt very special, encouraged, and on top of the world because not only had my effort been rewarded, but a very important politician shook my hand and said well done! You might not be a very important politician, but your words are powerful and they do matter.
The Unruly, Untameable Tongue
James 3:1-12 speaks about the unruly, untameable, evil, and poisonous tongue. Verse 10 of James 3 says, “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” What a graphic description!
Sincerely Kind and Gracious Words
Proverbs 16:24 tells us that gracious words are a honeycomb sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Now that’s a powerful thought! Most of us like something that has a sweet taste as opposed to something bitter tasting, and healing of bones doesn’t happen overnight, but it takes time. These words in Proverbs were written by a very wise man, and he captured well the picture of kind gracious words and their effect. If we study the bible we will see that both the Old and New Testaments have a lot to say about our words, their effects, and our choices in what we say.
“For, Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.” 1 Peter 3:10 NIV
Jesus said “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”” Matthew 15:11 NIV (This is something we often forget when we speak, especially when we speak in anger)
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21
“Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.” Proverbs 21:23 NIV
These are just a few scriptures that show how our words matter to God, and their impact on our daily life. The psalmist recognised that his thoughts, and the words rising from them were important to God as he wrote; Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Intentional, Life-Giving, Life-Changing Words
Every time we read the words spoken by Jesus in the Bible, we can see that he speaks both intentionally and with authority. No idle, self doubting or careless words. He says in Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.” Recognising that when we say something we cannot unsay it, or take it back no matter how much we wish we could, is a crucial part of our journey of growth as Believers in Jesus. Our words will linger long after we’ve forgotten about them and we are no more. They may even be passed on from one generation to the next, and so it’s good if we pass on life giving words and sayings to the generations that follow after us. This is not something we can easily achieve by our own efforts, but we have God’s word and our Helper, Holy Spirit to teach us what to say, when to speak and how to say it. We can pray this simple prayer from Psalm 141:3 “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door to my lips!”
We can make our words count because they are honest but gracious, kind, sincere, and they reflect the love, life and wisdom of God’s kingdom. In this present time, the world needs to hear life changing and life giving words from every Believer including you, because your words are important vehicles that can and do affect our atmosphere and the lives of others. The following scriptures are helpful reminders of the power of our words and how we can use them.
“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:6
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 16:24
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29
Your Words, Your Heart Position, Your Treasure
What we say does matter greatly! Without thinking about it the tongue can build people up or tear them down in a few seconds. Moreover, the Bible in Luke 6:45 tells us our words are not independent of our heart position or thought processes. The Bible describes the thoughts and feelings we have as treasure in our heart. Of course, we don’t literally have treasure in our physical hearts which pump blood around our bodies. So, what and where is this heart that the Bible speaks of? and what does it mean by treasure?
We can get insight from looking at the original words used for ‘heart’ and ‘treasure’ when Jesus was speaking. The Hebrew word Jesus used when speaking about the heart, was ‘leb’. In the Greek translation (in which the New Testament was written) the word is ‘kardiya’. Both these words can be translated as ‘heart’ in English.
The concept of the heart outside of the muscle that pumps blood around our bodies, in our westernised context, is strongly associated with our emotions and feelings. This was not what Jesus was talking about. Instead, he was referring to what was then considered to be the centre of a person’s knowledge, understanding, thinking and wisdom. In the Jewish culture, the heart was considered to be the seat of the mind and will, which could be taught what the brain and our intelligence could never fully realise. So, in this context the heart has the capacity to store and process; unlike our physical hearts which are busy pumping blood around our bodies. The second thing in this verse to understand is what Jesus meant by the word ‘treasure’. It is referred to as either good or evil. We know that treasure is something that is valued highly and is usually kept securely. The thoughts being formed and processed in the heart/mind are referred to as treasure, and this treasure or our thought processes are constantly being influenced by what we are exposed to and immersed in; This is also the case for our will and emotions. This is one reason that God commanded Moses to tell the children of Israel the following
““And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NKJV
The Influence of The Word on Our Words
This verse gives us an idea of how constant exposure to the word of God, literally being intentionally marinated or soaked all the time in what God wanted the children of Israel to carry in their hearts, would have that influence on the seat of the mind and the thought processes and emotions generated there so that the will would also be influenced in a way that the logic of our brains could never compute!
To us in western culture, It’s quite interesting to equate the heart with being a processing and storage place, but when looking at it from the context that Jesus used in Luke 6 and a lot of other places in scripture; we can better understand that many experiences and thoughts are stored up in our minds and memories which may be either good experiences and thoughts or not such good experiences and thoughts. These thoughts, good and not so good, colour our perspective, and thus what we say. No wonder the Bible has so much to say about our words! To conclude;
May we always remember just how powerful and life changing our words are. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” – Proverbs 18:21 ESV
May this be our constant prayer; “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” – Psalm 19:14, ESV
May we intentionally speak gracious, wise words of peace, love, truth, kindness encouragement, healing and life. “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.” – 1 Peter 3:11, NLT
Carol Comrie