“Sticks and stones may
break my bones but words will never hurt me.”
This past Sunday I left church feeling out of sync. We had a guest preacher and while I appreciated the basic admonition that
was communicated I found myself disagreeing with the supporting declarations. I believe the sermon’s objective was
sincere: to illustrate the disparity
between the value we place on God’s Word vs. all other forms of media input
(cell phones, email, Internet, books, TV, film, magazines, blogs, etc.). However, several times during the sermon some
proclamations were made that rendered me conflicted and unsettled.
One such declaration was that words do not have the power to
bring life, unless it is the word of God (aka scripture). Even the word of God disproves that
thesis. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue
has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
(NIV)
I don’t think that acknowledging the power in words
diminishes the supremacy of God’s word.
His word spoke worlds into being.
But I don’t want to ever underestimate the weight of every other word. It would be irresponsible… dangerous… toxic
even… to deny its influence on the world and people around me.
I leave you with some of the best quotes I’ve found on the
power of words:
“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird
evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never
be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”
“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have
power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can
wring tears from the hardest hearts.”
“There is something about words. In expert hands,
manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs
like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce
your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their
magic.”
“The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood but the mouth
of the upright delivers them.”
-Proverbs 12:6 (ESV)
“Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for
this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can
build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners
knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but
words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order,
you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for
you when you're dead.”
Jesus said, “But I tell you that men will have to give
account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by
your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned”
-Matthew 12:36–37
(ESV)
“He was intrigued by the power of words, not the literary
words that filled the books in the library but the sharp, staccato words that
went into the writing of news stories. Words that went for the jugular. Active
verbs that danced and raced on the page.”
“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the
darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.”
“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything
else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares
of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you,
comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we
are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us
how to live and die.”
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They
deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers
make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and
even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are
given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of
life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on
a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but
singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on
that ship.”
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