Stewarding Words – Part 2

Words are powerful!

In Proverbs 18, Solomon wrote that “…death and life are in the power of the tongue.” James, the brother of Jesus, described the tongue as “…a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” (James 3:8-10)

Christ reconciled us to Himself. He made us His ambassadors and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. In all of our verbal interactions, we must remember that we represent the Lord to whomever we speak. The way we communicate at home, on social media, or in the marketplace is observed. Regardless of whether we’re dealing with an angry customer, in conflict with our spouse, or trying to reason with a belligerent teenager, let’s not return curse for curse, condemnation for condemnation. Rather, let us speak as we want others to speak to us. This requires the careful stewarding of our words.

In Colossians 3, the Apostle paul wrote, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Let’s steward our words wisely by asking God to help us put these principles into practice.

And if the stress of credit card debt has caused you to speak unkindly, let Christian Credit Counselors help. They’ll create a debt management plan that works for you. For more information visit crown.org/ccc.