Words (5 of 7)
Series: Proverbs: Biblical Street Smarts
Bob Ingle
Proverbs 18:21
'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.' That is a lie and we all know it. We want it to be true. We taught it to our kids as if it was true. But it's not even close to being true. Someone suggested amending that little rhyme to say:
Stick and stones may break my bones, but they can soon be mended.
But those names and words hurt my feelings, and the damage never ended.
That's far more accurate, don't you think? We've been in the book of Proverbs all summer, trying to gain and apply godly wisdom to the most important areas of our life. Today's message is vital no matter if you're 5 or 95. We're talking about being wise with the use of our words. The book of Proverbs has more to say about what comes out of our mouth than any other topic. In fact, 'tongue', 'mouth', 'lips', and 'words' are mentioned almost 150 times. One reason this is so critical is because of the sheer volume of words we utter. The average person speaks 16,000 words per day. That's equivalent to a 70-page book...every day. Because we talk, type, or text so many words every day, I think we're lulled into underestimating the impact each one of those words can have for good or for evil.
But it's not only the amount of words we speak, but the speed in which we can convey them that demands we watch what we say. Communication today is basically instantaneous. From cell phones to emails to texting to Twitter to Facebook to blogging, we have the ability to communicate every thought that pops in our heads. Actually, we can communicate so quickly that a lot of what we communicate can hardly be called a thought because we haven't taken any time to think about it. We just blurt it out in a Tweet or a text or a blog or an email. Be honest for a moment, how many of us have fired off an email and then wished we could reach out into cyberspace and bring it back? How many of us have sho ...
Series: Proverbs: Biblical Street Smarts
Bob Ingle
Proverbs 18:21
'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.' That is a lie and we all know it. We want it to be true. We taught it to our kids as if it was true. But it's not even close to being true. Someone suggested amending that little rhyme to say:
Stick and stones may break my bones, but they can soon be mended.
But those names and words hurt my feelings, and the damage never ended.
That's far more accurate, don't you think? We've been in the book of Proverbs all summer, trying to gain and apply godly wisdom to the most important areas of our life. Today's message is vital no matter if you're 5 or 95. We're talking about being wise with the use of our words. The book of Proverbs has more to say about what comes out of our mouth than any other topic. In fact, 'tongue', 'mouth', 'lips', and 'words' are mentioned almost 150 times. One reason this is so critical is because of the sheer volume of words we utter. The average person speaks 16,000 words per day. That's equivalent to a 70-page book...every day. Because we talk, type, or text so many words every day, I think we're lulled into underestimating the impact each one of those words can have for good or for evil.
But it's not only the amount of words we speak, but the speed in which we can convey them that demands we watch what we say. Communication today is basically instantaneous. From cell phones to emails to texting to Twitter to Facebook to blogging, we have the ability to communicate every thought that pops in our heads. Actually, we can communicate so quickly that a lot of what we communicate can hardly be called a thought because we haven't taken any time to think about it. We just blurt it out in a Tweet or a text or a blog or an email. Be honest for a moment, how many of us have fired off an email and then wished we could reach out into cyberspace and bring it back? How many of us have sho ...
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