Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. We have heard it since we were children, our parents probably taught it to us when words hurt us. So let’s just be brutally honest about this old saying; it is a lie. Broken bones will heal, but the hurt that words bring can last forever.
Paul got it. He said in Galatians 5:15, “If you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” James got it. He said in 3:5, “Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” And yet our speech can also be beneficial. Proverbs 12:18
Missy and I observe what is called the “ten-minute rule.” When we come in from work we have to take ten minutes to find out about the other person. We need to find out what kind of day they have had, how they are feeling and what is going on in their life. We cannot bring up any issue that might be confrontational until we know that person’s frame of mind. If it is not good, the issue will wait; the person is more important than the issue.
May God grant that we will be counted among the wise whose words bring healing.
Comments