When You Can’t Find the Words to Say Part 3

Spiritual Commentary - Submitted by Mike Dzyndra.

Many people have heard the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”. This is a highly inaccurate description of how people are influenced by words. The second reason that words act as a curse and can influence people more than we understand is by damaging relationships. Hurtful words (especially in marriages) can damage a relationship more that what appears on a surface level. Name calling and other aggressive actions attack who the individual is and their identity. This forces the person on the defensive and in turn they attack back (either aggressively or passively). The tongue becomes a sword that brings death to a relationship (Psalm 57:4). This is becoming an extreme problem in our society. Even in middle school we have people calling each other names “out of affection”. If I may be so blunt to give an example, girls call each other “slut” in place of words such as “dude”. This is becoming a problem that in turn is cursing our nation.  The evidence is in teen pregnancy rates. We have a society that has lost its identity and in turn is so vulnerable to words spoken by one another. In the next installation we will talk about how words that are NOT spoken influence us (words of love) and also how life can spring from our mouths.