by Coye Bouyer
LANSING, MI – Words have incredible power, sometimes we forget just how much power spoken words can have in and over our lives.
A life-giving tongue creates a positive environment, and even brings joy to a community. However, too often many of us choose conversation that is callous and criticizes as opposed to speech that is selective and soothing.
Proverbs 15:4 says, “A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.”
Here, Solomon is saying that your mouth possesses the power of medicine to bring back the life of its listener. However, just as gentle and soothing speech can rejuvenate and revive, harsh coarse or critical conversation from a manipulative mouth possesses power to crush or even BREAK the morale of its hearer.
A few other Proverbs that deal with the persuasive power found in one’s speech whether it is for good or bad;
“The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver” (10:20). Proverbs 10:31 says, “the mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom, but the perverted tongue will be cut out.”
One of my personal favorites is Prov. 12:18, “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
And we must not forget one of the most quoted Proverbs dealing with the tongue, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (18:21).
This is still a very challenging Proverb to interpret, yet in it, as well as all these other Proverbs, the concept that communication that is callous, cold, and not carefully considered can create a climate of calamity and even cause catastrophe in the mind, heart and/or soul of its hearer.
However, when conversation is carefully considered, a tongue is tamed, and words are spoken with wisdom, they help their hearer, lift their listener, and at times, even serve as medicine to the man or woman to whom they are spoken.
For, “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances” (Prov. 25:11).
So today, as you reflect on the words that are coming out of your mouth, will you choose conversation that is carefully crafted with speech that is seasoned with salt? Or like so many, will you continue using words without wisdom that cut instead of cultivate? The choice is yours.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pastor Coye L. Bouyer is the founding pastor of Kingdom Life Church in Lansing, MI where he has served since March of 2010. Pastor Bouyer recently stepped into the Diversity Ambassador role for the BSCM and firmly believes that he was not only called to Preach the Gospel as part of the process of reconciliation of man to God, but also using any platform as a bridge of reconciliation of man to man, and even more so amongst the brethren. Pastor Bouyer and his lovely wife Keturah (Gen. 25:1) have been married four over 20 years and have four children; Sierra, Seth, Cayla and Coye II.