The Gravity of Words, Part II - Natural Impacts

In the last post I made the implication that our words have intense effects on our lives. Check it out if you haven't and then let's delve into that together now!

I'd like to split up the two different impacts of our words between the natural world and the supernatural world. To explain, I mean the "natural" world is what we can taste, touch and see, while the supernatural world is the reality that we cannot experience with our senses but is many ways more real and lasting than this one. I'd like to focus this post on the natural impact of words.

Most of us can easily think of a time where someone said something to us that profoundly affected us, either for good for bad. You may have thought of the time your dad snapped at you or someone first said you were cute. For example, I distinctly remember the time that I got a compliment from my dad when I got something right while I was building a medieval castle out of foam with him (that was a fun project!) and the time someone first said something nice about my guitar playing. I also vividly remember the time recently when I got barked at by a cashier for not knowing some silly rule at the cafeteria at my work!

Now why would that have stuck with you so sharply if the words didn't carry a profound impact? I shutter to think of all the times that I have probably said something that dug into the very center of someone and still eats at them today. Immediately following the verse I mentioned above, Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue can bring death or life..."

On a more positive note, think about all the amazing quotes that took a minute to say but have reverberated throughout history like a gun shot! Words can do so much good, and have done so many times. When we begin to seek God to teach us what to say, we begin to move away from simple words and into a place of profound influence with our words."Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." - Ephesians 4:29.

Pray with me today that we will be more aware of what we say and work to build others up instead of breaking them apart with our words. Even a small comment, for good or bad, can have a huge impact for a long time.

Check out the next post in this series on the supernatural impacts of our words.