Proddatur (GR-TYP-BIN): Speech can be destructive, or it can be healthful. There are no other options. Our words identify us. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword. Let us guard our tongue not to speak like a drawn sword and shun this evil practice which promotes disease and destruction.
The heart of the wise teaches his mouth and adds learning to his lips. (Proverbs: 16:23). We should avoid the language which promotes ill-health, since, ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue’ (Proverbs: 18:21). We can cut a person with our words, like the piercings of a sword, or we can heal and nurture him with kind and helpful words. All need to understand it and examine which are we best at?
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (James: 3:6-18). If it had been tamed, we would have been perfect!
-
Let our speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that we may know how we ought to answer each one. (Colossians: 4:6).
Our speech should be a tree of life to others for ‘A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit’. (Proverbs: 15:4), and it should be appreciated for its sweetness and health for ‘Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones’. (Proverbs: 16:24).
Let us start saying good, kind, and thankful things about others. Even let us report the truth which endures forever and generations since the Holy God of Heaven expects people to always speak the truth in respect, honour and love.
‘History is a distillation of rumours’ – Thomas Carlyle. Even present is like that, if it is not an exaggeration in its underlying sense. Let’s not spread the rumours to create panic among the people who are facing the threat of deadly disease.
..And a word spoken in due season, how good it is, and how healthful it is! (Proverbs: 15:23). Let our tongue be the tongue of health and speech be the tree of life to others at all times.