As I was reading and contemplating the possible outcome of young Michelle Carter being found guilty for encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself by the use of three small words, "Get back in" (see New York Times article), I thought about the fact that the words we speak not only can hurt, but they can sometimes literally kill as well.This is why we need to be careful of our thoughts, because our thoughts become our words, and our words become our actions, our actions become our habits, our habits become our character, and our character becomes our destiny (see article).
There are two powerful lessons we can learn from the above tragic story:
1) There is power of life and death in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.
2) A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them (Proverbs 12:6). Let us be careful of what we say! Let us speak words of life to those who cross our path! The power of words … it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times.
I’m reminded of what our Lord stated in Matthew 12:36-37: “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Beloved, let us utter these eight words in prayer to God every new day that He allows us to open our eyes, for it could make a literal difference between life and death for some soul with whom we interact.
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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