Life or Death? The Choice is Yours!

There is a place that every child has to learn to navigate and that is the school playground. This is the war zone in the school system. While there are adults watching as children play, it’s almost impossible to hear every conversation at recess. The adults who supervise recess are concerned about safety. For the most part, the only way that they can have any information about a conversation is if one of the children informs them. There are some beloved friends and fearful bullies on the playground.

The words of friends are encouraging but the words of the bullies bring dread. When a child is faced with hurtful words, the common reply when I was a child was, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” It was not true then and it’s not true now. Science has proven that words can be harmful. This truth has been in the Bible all along. Proverbs 18:21 AMP says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.” 

This is a reminder that we need to watch our words.  The Apostle Peter said, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil  and your lips from telling lies. (1 Peter 3:10 NLT) The tongue is a powerful member in the body and can impact our lives either positively or negatively. If we go around speaking words that bring death, that is what we will reap. The Apostle Paul said, “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.” (Ephesians 4:29). When we speak encouraging words, we speak life into our lives and the lives of those around us.

What do you want to do? Speaking death is easy; it doesn’t take any effort to speak badly about someone. It’s easy to speak words that cause anxiety and stress in the lives of others; just like the bully on the playground. If you want to enjoy life remember, the Apostle Peter gave us the recipe; we need to keep our tongue from evil and our lips from telling lies.

Thought for Today: Friend, choose life!

Have a blessed day and walk in faith and victory.