You have the power to speak life and death...

We don't really think about how important Proverbs 18:21 truly is, but it's true. We hold this power. What power is this? The power to speak life and death.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Our words hold a tremendous power, and I really hadn't thought about that until I wrote this blog post on my author blog the other day. I mean, I knew how powerful words were, but this really drove the point home to me. Sometimes I feel like we need a reminder of it. We tend to forget how important it is.

I was reminded of it, again, this morning when I could have flown off the handle at someone for angering me. This person had their own opinions of something, and I had my opinions. And although I responded once, I refused to respond again because I didn't want to get into a fight with anyone, especially this one. Although, I had come up with this whole speech that I wanted to type up and push "send" (It was on Facebook.), I didn't. I decided to delete the post altogether and let it go. Why? Because arguing would do no good. People have their opinions, and I have mine. They're entitled to share theirs, and I'm entitled to share mine.

But the point isn't about arguing opinions, it's about arguing. I could have said some horrible things in response to this comment, and this person could have said equally horrible things. But I didn't, and I don't think this person would have either. I'm not sure, but I wasn't opening the conversation up to that. It was best to stop the negative comments altogether, and that's what I did.

See, although I have the temper of a redheaded Irish woman, I kept that anger in check - this time. I've been known to not keep my tongue in check. I've said horrible things to people before, and I'm not proud of that. But I can change that now. I can mind what I say aloud about others and myself.

When you speak something, it's out there, and you can't take it back. It's important that we let God have our mouths and speak only good things. Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

It's our job to speak life into others and situations. We don't need to start fights, nor do we need to call other people names, etc. We need to speak positively.

In the post that I mentioned above, I ended it with, "Maybe, just maybe, you can change someone’s life, too."

Who's life can you change today by speaking positively? Who's life can you change by not starting a fight? Calling people names? What are you doing to edify others? Let them have their opinions and you have yours. Just don't fight. Don't argue. Don't bully.

Life and death are in the power of the tongue. How will you use yours today?

Does your shadow cast perfect love?

I had my thumb and index fingers on each hand touching.  The overhead light cast a shadow of that, and it looked like a heart.  My shadow was casting a heart, and then I thought, Does the impression I give others leave the same?  Does my shadow in life cast off perfect love?

I don't want to be remembered as a sourpuss who was always frowning.  I want people to see me and say, She's a happy, loveable person.  I want people to know the love of Christ after I leave their presence.

See, we as Christians need to give off the love of Christ.  If it's in us, we need to show it.  I know that we have bad days, and it's certainly easy to walk around with a frown on our faces or tears in our eyes.  We get angry and sometimes say the wrong thing, but is that how we want people to remember us?   

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.  No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.  1 John 4:11, 12


God wants us to love one another, and since He lives in us, the Bible says that His love is perfected in us.  That means that God's love is perfect, and that perfect love is what dwells inside of us.  So, how can we not cast off love when perfect love dwells within us? 


I'm not saying that it's not alright to have a bad day.  It is, but how can things be so bad when we have the love of Christ working within us?  


This is the love of Christ.  It's a love that we cannot even fathom.  God sacrificed His only Son, so that we may live.  What are we sacrificing for God?  Surely sacrificing a bad day for God isn't quite the same as Him giving us His Son?  




For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16
  

What if the person you just gave the finger to who made you angry in traffic needed to see that kind of love today?  What if they were in a hurry to get to a sick loved one who needed them?  Needed Christ?

What if that person who bumped into you accidentally in the grocery store was looking for that perfect love and all you did was talk ugly to them?  

What if the woman sitting alone in a cafe wondered if anyone cared about her and all you did was snub her when she smiled at you?  

Think about that for a moment.  I'm guilty of being ugly in the grocery store when it's crowded and all I want is to get home after someone tried to run me over with a grocery cart, but what if that person needed to see the perfect love of God in me, and I was too stubborn, too human, to give them that kind of reassurance.  

Today, I urge you to be nice; let your shadow cast perfect love today.  Don't leave people with a terrible impression of who you are.  They need to see God in you.  Not the human side.  They see enough of that in this world as it is.



Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  1Corinthians 13:1