As a Christian home builder, our homes should be filled with conversation. But what kind of conversation? We must realize the importance of our conversation and of the words we use in our homes – and elsewhere.
Let's look at the importance of our words.
1. Our words can direct us and others in life.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.
Proverbs 25:11
In other words, a good word spoken at the right time is better than golden apples in a silver basket.
2. Our words can destroy us and others. Words can destroy relationships. Once spoken, they're gone. The damage is done. We need to think BEFORE we speak, not just after.
There is a story of a woman in an Indian village who maliciously gossiped about another lady and her family in the village. One day she found out that she was wrong about this lady and her family and had a change of heart. She went to the village’s wise man and asked how she could take back all the wrong she had done. The wise man told her to go home and kill her chickens and pluck there feathers and put them into a bag. After this she was to go back and see the wise man again, but on her way back she was to scatter all the feathers she had plucked from the chickens.
The lady did as she was told. When she got back to the man, he told her, "now go back and pick up all the feathers that you have scattered. " The woman was astonished at such a command and said, " By now the wind has carried the feathers through out the village and beyond." The wise man then told Her, And so it is with your careless words. They are like the feathers scattered in the wind. You can not retrieve them." With that the woman with a broken heart because of the words she had spoken went her way, determined from that day forward to watch her words.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29
3. Our words display who we are and what's in our hearts.
Look at this illustration:
A guy joined the a monastery. For three years he was given a probation period where he was not to speak at all, but at the end of each year he could say two words. The first year at the end he said, "Bed hard." At end of the second year he said, "Food cold." At the end of the third year he’d about had it. He comes in and says, "I quit". The head priest replied, "That doesn’t surprise me. All you’ve done is complain since you got here."
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45
Live a positive legacy with your conversation.
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Thank you for visiting "Shine Like Stars"! I appreciate your comments. Have a great day! Lori