WORDS of LIFE or DEATH?

I have no respect for justice.

I main without killing.
I break hearts and ruin lives.
I am cunning and malicious and gather strength with age.
The more I am quoted, the more I am believed.
I flourish at every level of society.
My victims are helpless; they cannot protect
themselves against me because I have no name and no face.
To track me down is impossible.
The harder you try, the more elusive I become.

I am nobody's friend.
Once I tarnish a reputation, it is never the same.
I topple governments and ruin marriages.
I end ministries set up by God.

I ruin careers and cause sleepless nights, heartache and indigestion.
I spawn suspicion and generate grief.
I make headlines, headaches and heartaches.
I make innocent people cry in their pillows.
Even my name hisses.

~Author Unknown~

"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

"Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." ~ James 3:9-11

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue..." ~ Proverbs 18:21


If I knew that a word of mine,
A word not kind and true,
Might leave its trace
On a loved one's face,
I don't think I'd speak it
Would you?

If I knew that the sting of a word
Might linger and leave its mark,
With a deep dark scar
On a loved one's heart,
I don't think I'd speak it
Would you?

~Author Unknown~

The only way to change the untamed tongue is to change the spirit that controls it. We need to ask the Lord to alter our hearts, 'for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh' [Matthew 12:34].

We can only speak words of love, compassion and encouragement if our hearts are overflowing with God's love.