The Gift of Language

February 22, 2008

By Jerry Scott 

My grandson Payton is mastering language. Often he takes off into a flow of syllables I cannot decipher, much to his dismay. Yesterday over breakfast he fired off a long sentence I did not understand. When I mimicked the sounds I’d heard, he looked back at me with a combination of confusion and irritation, then said it again. I still didn’t get it! Thankfully his older brother is better at “Paytie speak” than Grandpa, so he translated.

I chuckled as I realized in just a few years little Payton will be able to discuss complex, theoretical problems using the same sounds that are now so garbled. With maturity, he will learn to form his thoughts into words.

And this Word will be proven true yet again: “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11, NLT).

Have you thought about the power of your words recently?

Words build community, focus our mutual efforts, and let us give away little pieces of ourselves. They can soothe a broken heart! Think of the power of that simple heart-felt phrase “I love you!” Words can inflame fury. “You’re an idiot, a worthless piece of trash!” Words like that can hurt more than the cut of a knife. Hateful words that demean another, that criticize, that unfairly judge, can tear apart a family, a town, a nation.

How are you using the gift of language?

James urges us to give the Spirit our hearts so that the overflow of our words is like a fresh water spring! Take a look.

“A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. … With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? … You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?” (James 3:3-12, The Message)

Are your words healing or hurting?

Are your words building up or tearing down?

Are your words encouraging or discouraging?

Are your words refreshing or exhausting?

“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior” (Ephesians 4:29-31, NLT).

My prayer today is that “the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14, NIV).

Amen.

— Jerry D. Scott is senior pastor at Washington (N.J.) Assembly of God.